Never mention caste or religion of a litigant in cause title of judgment: Supreme Court

In State of Rajasthan vs Gautam Mohanlal 2023 INSC 903, Supreme Court's Bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Pankaj Mithal observed: We find from the cause title of the judgments of the Trial Court and the High Court that the respondent’s caste has been mentioned.  The same defect has been carried forward in the Special Leave Petition as the description of the respondent accused must have been copied from the cause title of the judgments of the Courts." 

In the order authored by Justice Oka, it is  asserted that "An accused has no caste or religion when the Court deals with his case.  We fail to understand why the caste of the accused has been mentioned in the cause title of the judgments of the High Court and the Trial Court. The caste or religion of a litigant should never be mentioned in the cause title of the judgment. We have already observed in our order dated 14th  March 2023 that such practice should never be followed. The cause title in this judgment has been amended accordingly. Formal amendment be carried out after pronouncement of this judgment."