Caste of Women Post Marriage
Two days back, Bombay High Court made a controversial ruling. Marriage doesn’t change a woman’s caste, rules HC Hetal Vyas / DNASaturday, January 23, 2010 0:14 IST A woman’s caste does not change after marriage, the Bombay high court has ruled. The order came on Friday on the hearing of an application by Mumbai resident Rajendra Shrivastava, who had sought anticipatory bail after his wife, a scheduled caste, accused him and her in-laws of dowry harassment and ‘casteist atrocities’. Shrivastava said that since the woman was married to him, a forward caste man, she could not seek protection or benefits under the Prevention of Atrocities Act (PAA), 1989. But the bench of justices BH Marlapalle, Abhay Oka and RY Ganoo did not agree. It said: When a woman born in a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe (SC/ST) marries a person belonging to a forward caste, her caste does not change. An SC/ST person suffers from disadvantages and indignities just because he or she is born into a particular c...