Recent Tamil Nadu Elections Show People Can Be Convinced To Vote Without Considering Caste Or Community : Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has observed that Tamil Nadu can claim to have achieved "true change" only when caste is eradicated from the minds of people, while emphasizing the need for sustained efforts to eliminate caste-based considerations in society.Making the observation in a recent judgment, the Court noted that the results of the latest Assembly elections in the State demonstrated that voters could be persuaded to look beyond caste and community identities while exercising their franchise."The recent Assembly election results in the State of Tamil Nadu have shown that people can indeed be convinced to vote without considering the caste or community of the contestants. In fact, a government has been formed by largely nullifying the factors of caste," the Court observed.The Court further stressed that social transformation requires a corresponding change in public consciousness and attitudes."It must be remembered that the State can claim 'true change' only when the mindset of the people is also changed. Therefore, this Government shall take the responsibility and initiative to eradicate caste from the minds of the people," the Court said.Court laments casteist attacks on judgeThe High Court also lamented that casteism was prevalent even today and even judges were not spared from the same. The court noted that often, motives were being attributed to the judge's order, based on their case, even though the cases were being decided on merits. “No matter how powerful or privileged a person is, everyone is experiencing castesim in one form or another. Even we Judges are not spared from the same. Motives are attributed to our orders on the basis of caste, even though the cases are being decided on the basis of merit,” the court said. Justice B Pugalendhi highlighted that great leaders like Kamarajar, Muthuramalinga Thevar, Chidambaram, etc were now being projected based on their caste. The court added that the mindset of the people had to be changed and only the State could bring about such a change. The judge pointed out that the recently concluded State Assembly Elections showed that people could be convinced to vote for a party without considering the caste or community, and a government has been formed by nullifying the factors of caste. The court thus said that the state has to take the responsibility and initiative to eradicate caste. “The recent assembly election results in the state of Tamil Nadu have shown that people can indeed be convinced to vote without considering the caste or community of the contestants. In fact, a government has been formed by largely nullifying the factors of caste. It must be remembered that the state can claim “true change” only when the mindset of the people is also changed. Therefore, this government shall take the responsibility and initiative to eradicate caste from the minds of the people,” the court said. The court also observed that legislations like SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were not yielding the expected benefits and cases under the Act were increasing by day. The court opined that reforms had to be made from school level to change the mindset of the younger generation. The court noted that the State had appointed a committee headed by Justice K Chandru (Retd) to suggest measures to eradicate casteism and to ensure social harmony in the schools. The court noted that though the committee had submitted report to the government, its recommendations had not been implemented in full. The court made the observations while hearing the bail plea of Saravanan, one of the accused in the honour killing of Kavin, a techie in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. Kavin Selvaganesh, a techie working in Chennai belonging to the Hindu Devendra Kula Vellalar community, was hacked to death on July 27, 2025, by the family of the woman, with whom he allegedly had a love affair, who belonged to the Hindu Maravar community. The prime accused was the woman's brother and Saravanan was the woman's father. Both Saravanan and his wife were working as Sub-Inspector of Police at the time of the incident. The High Court had previously dismissed the bail plea of Saravanan. He had later filed bail pleas before the trial court which was dismissed again. Against this, the present criminal appeal was filed. Saravanan argued that he had been incarcerated since August 11, 2025 for a periodof 10 months and he did not have any role in the commission of the offence. He argued that there was no evidence to show that he had caused disappearance of evidence in the case, or that he had harboured the prime accused, his son. The prosecution however opposed the plea and argued that Saravanan was aware about the love affair between his daughter and Kavin and immediately before the occurrence, his son had called him to inform him about the same. The prosecution also argued that after the occurrence, Saravanan had visited the scene of ...

Recent Tamil Nadu Elections Show People Can Be Convinced To Vote Without Considering Caste Or Community : Madras High Court

Upasana Sajeev

" In fact, a government has been formed by largely nullifying the factors of caste," the Court observed.

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Upasana Sajeev

Recent Tamil Nadu Elections Show People Can Be Convinced To Vote Without Considering Caste Or Community : Madras High Court

Upasana Sajeev

" In fact, a government has been formed by largely nullifying the factors of caste," the Court observed.

This is a premium content Available exclusively to Our subscribers

INR 1099+GST

Tags

Upasana Sajeev

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