The Madras High Court has modified some comments in its judgment that said the caste system is less than a century old.
The judgment uploaded on the High Court website on March 6 contained some remarks on the origins of the caste system.
The latest version of the judgment uploaded on the website of the Madras High Court omitted the line “origins of the caste system as we know it today are less than a century old”. The line is replaced with “categorisation of castes as we know them today, is a far more recent and modern phenomenon”.
Further, the earlier version had said that Tamil Nadu had 370 registered castes, while commenting on “pills and pressures” between different caste groups. The latest version of the judgment says that Tamil Nadu has 184 registered castes.
The Court’s judgment was passed on a petition filed against Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, State Minister PK Sekarbabu and Member of Parliament (MP) A Raja by the Hindu Munnani. The petition was filed in the wake of Stalin’s call for the eradication of Sanatana Dharma in 2023.
“Just as dengue, mosquitoes, malaria, and coronavirus must be eradicated, we must eradicate Sanatana,” Stalin had said.
