Affinity test cannot be the litmus test to decide a caste claim: SC

An affinity test cannot be the litmus test to decide a caste claim, the Supreme Court has held in a judgment.

An affinity test cannot be the litmus test to decide a caste claim, the Supreme Court has held in a judgment.

A three-judgment Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said an affinity test is not an essential part of the process of the determination of correctness of a caste or tribe claim in every case.

An affinity test mandates the study and preparation of a report by authorities on caste/tribe claims based on the peculiar anthropological and ethnological traits, deities, rituals, customs, mode of marriage, death ceremonies, methods of burial of dead bodies, etc, of the particular caste or tribe and the applicants knowledge of them.

But the court said an “affinity test can never be conclusive” to prove a caste/tribe claim.

The judgment authored by Justice Abhay Oka pointed out that an applicant may have “good knowledge” about these traits without belonging to the particular caste or tribe.

Besides, Justice Oka reasoned that if the “applicant has stayed in bigger urban areas along with his family for decades or if his family has stayed in such urban areas for decades, the applicant may not have knowledge of the facts”.

In some cases, even the parents of the applicants would be unaware of intrinsic tribal or caste traits “for the reason that for several years they have been staying in bigger urban areas”.