The Telangana High Court has directed the State Government to provide a column for “no religion,” “no caste” in the online applications for registering birth certificates. The court was hearing a writ petition filed seeking a direction to the State Government to issue a certificate of “No Religion and No Caste” in all birth certificate forms. The petitioners averred that the absence of such option was violative of Articles 14, 19, 21 and 25 of the Constitution of India.
Justice Lalitha Kanneganti held that the petitioners have the right “not to follow or profess any religion” and that such right is implicit in Article 25 of the Constitution of India. The court further held that it is the government’s duty to act in consonance with the rights guaranteed under the Constitution. The court noted that the apex court has observed that the Constitution is an “organic and breathing” document with senses alive to its surrounding and that it has been created in a manner to “adapt to the needs and developments taking place in the society.”
The petitioner further submitted that in Government of India’s census, no column called ‘non-religious’ is in the list. “If once the religion or caste is entered in the birth certificate, it will be a recurring problem to the parent and child not only at the stage of school admission but also at the stage of issuing school leaving certificate called TC they have to face the similar problem,” the petitioner argued.
“The system has to evolve along with the times, the changing requirements of the citizens. The constitutional court cannot remain a mute spectator to the legitimate requirement of a citizen,” the court said.
The petitioners are a married couple belonging to two different religions. The petitioners submitted that the issue arose when the couple had to apply for their new-born child’s birth certificate and that in order to fill the form, the couple had to fill the religious status of the child without which the application was incomplete. The petitioners submitted that in the birth certificate application, there were four options – Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and other religions. However, there was no option for non-religious practitioners.
The petitioners argued that India is a secular country and thus a citizen cannot be compelled to mention that they belong to a particular religion against their wish and will. The petitioners cited that the birth certificate is an important document as it would be used in future for school admission and other purposes. “In spite of their repeated representations and also submitting that their marriage is a inter-caste, inter- religious marriage, the respondents failed to heed to their request,” the court noted.
The petitioner further sought directions to the government to issue guidelines and make changes in forms to allow a person to record their identity as “No Religion and No Caste” in addition to various religious identifies as the same exists in official records of the Government of India and State Governments including Census, Birth Certificate, school admissions or school leaving records and certificates.
“The Hon’ble Apex Court has further observed that the Constitution like ours is an organic and breathing documents with senses which are very much alive to its surroundings, for it has been created in such a manner that it can adapt to the needs and developments taking place in the society. It is the responsibility of all concerned to transform the constitutional idealism into reality,” the court noted.
“The petitioners have every right not to follow or profess any religion and such right is implicit in Article 25 of the Constitution of India. It is the bounden duty of the respondents to act in consonance with the rights guaranteed to the citizen by the Constitution of India,” the court held.
The court further said that the system has to evolve with the times and a constitutional court cannot remain a mute spectator to the legitimate requirement of the citizen. “In the light of the above discussion, this Court is of the considered opinion that the petitioner has every right not to specify the religion or caste in the birth certificate,” the court held.
“Accordingly, the Writ Petition is allowed directing the respondents to provide a column for “no religion”, “no caste” in the on line application format and receive the petitioners’ application for registering the birth of their son, by virtue of Article 25 of the Constitution of India. He has every right to claim that he does not belong to any religion /caste. No costs,” the court concluded.
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