Woman from Mahadev Koli community in Maharashtra denied caste certificate for worshipping Hindu Gods

Case ID : 242df86 | Location : Nanded, Maharashtra, India | Date of Incident : Tue, 3 January, 2023

Case ID : 242df86

Nanded, Maharashtra, India

3 January, 2023

Woman from Mahadev Koli community in Maharashtra denied caste certificate for worshipping Hindu Gods

Restriction/ban on Hindu practices

Administration restricting religious practice

Case Summary

A woman belonging to the Mahadev Koli community in Maharashtra’s Nanded was denied caste validity certificates because she worshipped Hindu Gods. Interestingly, Mayuri’s father, who is in government service, got a caste validity certificate. However, the committee refused to grant the validity certificate to Mayuri. The report given by the Caste Validity Committee came to the strange conclusion that because she worshipped Hindu Gods, she was not a Mahadev Koli. The Koli community is classified as Other Backward Class by the Government of India in the Indian States of Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. But in Maharashtra, Tokre Koli, Malhar Koli and Mahadev Kolis are listed as Scheduled Tribe by the State Government of Maharashtra.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

In several cases, it is seen that the administration/state disallows a religious practice owing to prejudicial orders and concerns, targeted specifically against the Hindu community. Such restriction/prohibition would be considered documented as a hate crime because the orders are often a result of pressure by groups that harbour animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. Often, the restriction by the authorities is driven by bias, hostility, or prejudice against the specific community being stopped from holding a religious practice, by pressure groups that harbour animosity towards Hindus, intrinsic to their faith. Since practices are intrinsic to the faith of the Hindus, such prejudicial restriction is considered a curtailing of the fundamental rights of the Hindu community. In several cases, for example, the authorities ban a Hindu religious practice due to pressure from groups opposed to the religion. In other instances, the prohibition is selectively enforced against one religious group (Hindus) while others are allowed to proceed. There are still other cases where the authorities preemptively restrict a religious practice by Hindus because those who hold animosity towards Hindus may get “provoked” leading to them being violent, thereby assuaging the sentiments of those who hold animosity towards Hindus by curtailing the religious rights of Hindus. Such acts and orders are prejudiced, indicating discriminatory motives owing to the capitulation to groups that harbour animosity towards Hindus and therefore, would be categorized as a religiously motivated hate crime since the original pressure leading to the order itself is a result of hatred/bias/prejudice/religious hate against Hindus. In this case, a Hindu woman belonging to the SC/ST class was denied a caste certificate by government authorities in Maharashtra's Nanded district because of her religious affirmations. According to the details of the case, the woman's father was granted the caste certificate but she was denied the same and the reason cited was that she worships Hindu Gods. Firstly, denying a caste certificate based on an individual’s worship practices or religious choices is unconstitutional and violates the person's fundamental rights. Secondly, worshipping a particular god or following specific religious practices is a personal choice and discriminating against someone on this basis is a form of prejudice. Here, the accused's extreme contempt for the Hindu religion is evident by the fact that worshipping Hindu gods was used as the justification for refusing to issue a caste certificate. Since the motivation behind the act is religious bias, this case has been included in the hate tracker.