The Supreme court judgment on caste-based prescriptions in prison manuals - tip of the iceberg

The Supreme Court of India had, in a public interest litigation based on an article by journalist Sukanya Shantha in The Wire, sharply criticised existing prison manuals for several clauses reinforcing the age-old injustices of caste-based discrimination and segregation. The Court found ample evidence of this discrimination, both in prison manuals and in the administration of Indian prisons, and instructed the authorities to ensure corrections within three months. While the Court's verdict is commendable and much needed, these violations only reflect the discrimination prevalent in the larger society, in spite of the Constitutional guarantee of equality before the law. This commentary argues that such discriminatory practices should not only be banned in prisons but actively prohibited and jointly addressed in society at large by the Courts, the Legislature, the Executive, as well as the media.