Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Mar 25: The state high court has emphasized that the caste of a married woman is to be determined on the basis of her father's caste at birth and not on the basis of the caste to which her husband might belong.

The high court came to this conclusion in a case relating to a woman who fought gram panchayat election from a reserved constituency on the basis of her husband's caste after marrying a person from a caste that is different from her own. It stressed that upon marriage, the caste of one’s husband does not get transferred to the wife.

M G Archana from Balekoppa, Shivamogga, had successfully contested the gram panchayat election after filing nomination papers from a reserved constituency. She had fought the election based on the caste of her husband, who belongs to scheduled tribe. The high court upheld the order of a subordinate court which annulled her election. A single judge bench presided over by Justice Krishna S Dixit passed this order.

Archana, who does not belong to scheduled caste or tribe by birth, had married a youth from scheduled tribe. After she won in the election, Abhilash had filed a petition in the court seeking to declare her election as void. The second additional senior civil judge in Shivamogga had, through an order dated February 1, 2022, held her election as invalid. Archana had appealed in the high court against the above judgement.