Table Of ContentCapturing Caste in Law
This book is about the legal regulation of caste discrimination. It highlights the difficulty
of capturing caste in international and domestic law and suggests solutions. Its aim is to
contribute to the task of understanding how to secure effective legal protection from and
prevention of discrimination on grounds of caste, and why this is important and necessary. It
does this by examining the legal conceptualisation and regulation of caste as a social category
and as a ground of discrimination, in international law and in two national jurisdictions
(India and the UK), identifying their complexities, strengths, limitations and potential.
Adopting a broadly chronological approach, the book aims to present an account of the role
of law in the construction of caste inequality and discrimination, and the subsequent legal
efforts to dismantle it. The book will be of value to lawyers and non-lawyers, academics and
students of human rights, international law, equalities and discrimination, descent-based
and caste-based discrimination, minority rights and South Asia and its diaspora. It will be
a resource for legal practitioners and those in the public and non-governmental sectors
involved in the implementation, interpretation and enforcement of equality law in the UK –
the first European country to introduce the word caste into domestic equality legislation –
and in other countries with South Asian diasporas such as the USA.
Annapurna Waughray is Professor of Human Rights Law at Manchester Metropolitan
University, UK.
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Capturing Caste in Law
The Legal Regulation of Caste Discrimination
Annapurna Waughray
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Research-
in-Human-Rights-Law/book-series/HUMRIGHTSLAW
Capturing Caste in Law
The Legal Regulation
of Caste Discrimination
Annapurna Waughray
First published 2022
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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© 2022 Annapurna Waughray
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Waughray, Annapurna, 1960– author.
Title: Capturing caste in law : the legal regulation of caste discrimination /
Annapurna Waughray.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon [UK] ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. |
Series: Routledge research in human rights law | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021043819 (print) | LCCN 2021043820 (ebook) | ISBN
9781138807761 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032009735 (paperback) | ISBN
9781315750934 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Caste—Law and legislation—India—History. | India—Scheduled
tribes—Legal status, laws, etc. | Dalits—Legal status, laws, etc.—India. |
Caste-based discrimination—India. | Caste—Law and legislation—Great
Britian—History. | Great Britain. Equality Act 2010. | Minorities—Legal status,
laws, etc.—Great Britain. | International law and human rights. | International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965
December 21)
Classification: LCC KNS2107.C37 W38 2022 (print) | LCC KNS2107.C37
(ebook) | DDC 342.5408/7—dc23/eng/20211105
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021043819
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021043820
ISBN: 978-1-138-80776-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-00973-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75093-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781315750934
Typeset in Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of abbreviations xiii
Table of cases and decisions xvi
Table of legislation xix
List of treaties and instruments xxi
Foreword xxii
Preface and acknowledgements xxv
Introduction 1
Context 1
Conceptual approach 4
Methods and sources 5
Organisation of the book 5
PART I
The making and remaking of caste 9
1 What is caste? 11
1.1 Introductory concepts 11
1.1.1 Caste 12
1.1.2 Descent 12
1.1.3 Varna 13
1.1.4 Dalits: outside the varna system 14
1.1.5 Jati 16
1.1.6 Biraderi 17
1.1.7 Caste membership and mobility 17
1.1.8 Markers for caste 18
1.1.9 Caste and occupation 19
1.1.10 Caste and religion 20
1.1.11 Caste as a cross-cultural concept 22
1.1.12 Caste in the diaspora 24
1.1.13 The concept and practice of untouchability 24
1.1.13.1 Untouchability, pollution and stigma 24
vi Contents
1.1.13.2 “Touch” as a category 26
1.1.13.3 Untouchability, social exclusion and violence 26
1.1.13.4 Is untouchability an integral aspect of caste? 27
1.1.13.5 Ambedkar, untouchability, Hinduism and caste 28
1.2 R eligious and historical origins of a caste society 29
1.2.1 Ancient India: Indo-Aryans, the Rg Veda and the origins of varna 29
1.2.1.1 The Rg Veda and varna 30
1.2.1.2 Purusa-Sukta: the Creation Myth 30
1.2.2 Origins of jati 31
1.2.3 Hierarchy, heredity, endogamy and commensality 32
1.2.4 Origin of untouchability 33
1.3 S ociological theories and interpretations of caste 34
1.3.1 Colonialism and the emergence of caste as a sociological concept 34
1.3.2 Racial theories of caste 35
1.3.3 Caste and genetics 37
1.3.4 Ambedkar’s theory of caste 37
1.3.5 Louis Dumont and his critics 38
1.3.6 Post-Dumont: caste as orientalist “invention” 40
1.3.7 The ‘tenacity of caste’ 41
1.4 Conclusion 43
2 The Dalits and the history of caste inequality 44
2.1 I ntroduction 44
2.2 T he Vedic period c 1500–500 BCE: varna, dharma and karma 45
2.2.1 The varna classificatory system 45
2.2.2 The concepts of dharma and karma 45
2.2.3 Legal nature of the early Vedic texts 47
2.3 T he post-Vedic and classical period: dharma literature
c 500 BCE–700 CE 48
2.3.1 Dharmasutras 48
2.3.2 Kautilya’s Arthasasthra 49
2.3.3 Dharmasastras 49
2.2.3.1 Manusmrti 50
2.3.4 Legal nature of the Dharmasastras 51
2.3.5 The feudal era c 800–1200 CE: mobility versus inequality 52
2.4 M edieval/Islamic India c 1206–1707 5 3
2.4.1 The wider setting 53
2.4.2 Smrti commentarial texts and digests 53
2.5 B ritish India, law and caste inequality 1600–1857 5 5
2.5.1 1600–1772: Mughal decline and the ascendancy of the British 55
2.5.2 1772–1857: company rule, Anglo-Hindu law and caste 56
2.5.3 1858–1900: the Crown and caste inequality 60
2.6 N epal: the Muluki Ain (Nepali Royal Law Code) 1854 6 1
Contents vii
2.7 D irect British rule and caste reform: 1858–1947 6 2
2.7.1 Ambedkar and the Untouchables 64
2.7.2 The “Scheduled Castes” 65
2.8 C onclusion 67
3 The legal regulation of caste discrimination: lessons from India 69
3.1 I ntroduction 69
3.2 C aste discrimination in India: contemporary context 71
3.2.1 Caste and poverty 71
3.2.2 Caste and untouchability 72
3.2.3 Economic and occupational inequality 73
3.2.4 Caste and educational inequality 75
3.2.5 Violence 76
3.3 C onstitutional vision 78
3.4 C aste, equality and non-discrimination: the legal framework 79
3.4.1 “Protective” legislation 80
3.4.2 Affirmative action: India’s “reservations” policies 81
3.4.3 Other measures 83
3.5 I ndia’s policies assessed 84
3.5.1 Overview 84
3.5.2 Reservations 84
3.5.3 Legislation 87
3.5.4 Scheduled castes and religious restrictions 90
3.6 L essons learned: looking ahead 91
PART II
Caste and international human rights law 97
4 Caste discrimination and international human rights law standards:
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination 1965 and the UN human rights treaties 99
4.1 I ntroduction 99
4.2 C aste in international human rights instruments: International
Bill of Rights 100
4.2.1 Background 100
4.2.2 Caste in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
(UDHR) 101
4.2.3 Caste in the ICCPR 1966 and ICESCR 1966 103
4.3 C aste in ICERD: drafting and text 105
4.3.1 ICERD: context and background 105
4.3.1.1 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 44(I) 1946:
treatment of Indians in South Africa 106
4.3.2 ICERD Article 1(1): racial discrimination 107
viii Contents
4.3.3 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
1963 108
4.3.4 ICERD and the meaning of descent 108
4.3.5 ICERD Articles 1(4) and 2(2): special measures 110
4.4 C ERD and caste: interpretation and practice 112
4.4.1 Caste discrimination in India as an emerging issue 1965–1986 112
4.4.2 CERD concluding observations on India’s 1996 report 113
4.4.3 CERD: competence to interpret 115
4.4.4 CERD and the meaning of racial discrimination: General
Recommendation 14 (1993) 117
4.4.5 CERD and the meaning of racial segregation and apartheid:
General Recommendation 19 (1995) 117
4.4.6 CERD and the meaning of descent: General Recommendation
29 (2002) 118
4.4.7 Beyond General Recommendation 29 122
4.5 D escent 123
4.5.1 Origins of descent as a legal category 123
4.5.2 Descent in Indian jurisprudence post-1947 124
4.5.3 Descent and evolutionary interpretation 125
4.5.4 Domestic jurisdiction, sovereignty and caste 126
4.5.5 Beyond India and beyond caste: CERD and descent-based
discrimination worldwide 127
4.5.6 Caste and descent-based discrimination: other treaty bodies 131
4.6 C onclusion 133
5 Caste discrimination and international human rights law standards:
UN Charter bodies 135
5.1 I ntroduction 135
5.2 U N Charter mechanisms 137
5.2.1 UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights: discrimination based on work and descent 137
5.2.2 UN draft principles and guidelines for the effective elimination
of discrimination based on work and descent 140
5.2.3 UN Special Procedures 141
5.2.3.1 UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms
of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia
and related intolerance 142
5.2.3.2 Other UN Special Procedures 143
5.2.3.3 Competence of the UN Human Rights Council and its
Special Procedures to consider caste discrimination 144
5.2.4 Universal Periodic Review 146
5.3 I nternational Labour Organisation: discrimination on the basis
of social origin 148
5.4 U N World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance 2001 1 49
Contents ix
5.4.1 Durban Review Conference 2009 151
5.5 D ecade of Dalit rights UN 2011–2020, conference 24–28 June 2011: work
and descent, not race 152
5.6 D alit rights as minority rights and indigenous people’s rights 152
5.7 C onclusion 158
PART III
Legal regulation of caste discrimination in the UK 161
6 Caste in the UK 1950–2009 163
6.1 I ntroduction 163
6.2 T he South Asian presence in the UK 163
6.3 D alits in the UK 165
6.3.1 Numbers and groupings 165
6.3.2 “New” Dalit organisations 167
6.4 C aste and caste discrimination in the UK 168
6.4.1 Migration and caste: the early days 168
6.4.2 “Chain migration” and caste 169
6.4.3 Survival of caste awareness: critical factors 169
6.4.4 Caste and caste discrimination in the UK: evidence
from 1950–2009 170
6.4.5 Caste and marriage in the UK 172
6.4.6 Caste and education 173
6.4.7 Caste in the UK disputed 174
6.5 A wareness of caste discrimination prior to the Equality Bill 2009 175
6.5.1 Caste discrimination as an overseas issue 175
6.5.2 Caste discrimination as a domestic issue 176
6.6 C onclusion 177
7 British discrimination law and caste: From the Race Relations Act
1965 to the Equality Bill 2009 178
7.1 I ntroduction 178
7.2 U K discrimination law model 179
7.2.1 Purpose of discrimination law 179
7.2.2 Meaning of discrimination 179
7.2.3 Regulated fields and the “public-private” divide 180
7.2.4 Discrimination: grounds-based approach 182
7.3 C aste and racial discrimination 183
7.3.1 Race Relations Act 1976 183
7.3.2 Caste and race 184
7.3.3 Caste and ethnic origins 185
7.3.3.1 Content of “ethnic origins” 185
7.3.3.2 Mandla v Dowell Lee (1983): wide interpretation
of “ethnic origins” 186
7.3.3.3 Caste and the Mandla criteria 187
