What’s in a sarkaari form? A lot of things, including your name, ‘father/husband’s name’, date of birth, and of course, your religion and caste.
But what happens when you don’t believe in religion, and don’t want to bring up your child with a caste? What about the non-religious, the agnostics, the atheists, the children of couples who hold different faiths, or just about any person who does not want to tell the government which gods they pray to?
They took the case to court and the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday issued notices based on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by DV Ramakrishna Rao and S Clarance Krupalini.
The court has asked the government of Telangana and Andhra, along with the Centre to respond in two weeks, on some of the questions raised by the couple.
Rao says that the couple had made a conscious choice not to impart any caste or religious beliefs to their children.
Rao says that the school authorities insisted that they state a religion, saying that there would be a problem with the Transfer Certificate (TC).
While Rao has submitted the form for his elder daughter, he says that he did it after a lot of protest.
Rao also says that he has been writing to several government officials since 2010, including the HRD Ministry at the Centre, and has also filed complaints.
"However, I disagree with that. I think it’s a policy issue, at the state and central level," he adds.
Rao also quotes the 2011 Census, which gives a 'religion not stated' option, but no option for the non-believer. 28.7 lakh people were listed under the category in 2011.
"They must be categorised scientifically," Rao exclaims, elaborating on the need to address and attend to emerging identities in society.
When the Census data was first released, there was a lot of protest from the communities of rationalists and atheists across the country.
Rao also says that he doesn't mean to belittle any religion or caste.
When asked if he is optimistic about the PIL, Rao adds, "The right to religion also includes the right to not follow any religion. The Constitution guarantees it.
The court has seen enough seriousness in my PIL to consider it, and I'm quite sure that we'll get a positive result."
An online petition has also been started for the cause and can be found here.
(The story first appeared on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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