Plea to direct trial courts to refrain from mentioning caste, religion of witness closed

Taking into account that the plea for a direction to trial courts to refrain from mentioning caste and religion of witness in depositions and other documents was under active consideration of the Rule Committee of the Madras High Court, the Madurai Bench closed the petition, filed by advocate O.R. Gokul Abimanyu of Madurai.

A Division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and A.D. Maria Clete observed that while this was under active consideration it would not be appropriate to pass any order till a final decision was taken.

The petitioner said this was the practice in all the trial courts and every deposition contained the details of the caste and the religion of the witness. He said he failed to understand the reason for the trial courts in mandating the witness to give those details and recording them in the deposition.

While the judicial system strived to uphold the principles of equality and impartiality, the disclosure of a witness’s caste during the evidence and mentioning it had potential to introduce bias. The trial courts could very well decide the matters without knowing those details. The Supreme Court had directed the trial courts to refrain from collecting such details, he said.

Published - November 27, 2024 08:44 pm IST