- Lata Singh vs State of UP (2006)
Supreme Court in Lata Singh vs State of UP held that inter-caste marriages are not banned under the Hindu Marriage Act or any other law. The maximum that relatives can do if they disagree with the inter-caste marriage of their children is to cut off all bonds with them. “But they cannot give threats or commit or instigate acts of violence and cannot harass the person who undergoes such inter-caste or inter-religious marriage.
- The Supreme Court held that inter-caste marriages are in “national interest” as a unifying factor in a nation where caste system is a “curse”. “The caste system is a curse on the nation and the sooner it is destroyed the better. In fact, it is dividing the nation at a time when we have to be united to face the challenges before the nation. Inter-caste marriages are, in fact, in national interest as they will result in destroying the caste system,” a Bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra held in a judgment.
- “A Dalit boy’s wrist was chopped off because he was wearing a watch; another was killed as he had a song on (social reformer) B.R. Ambedkar as his ringtone.