Chanda lawyer applies for ‘no caste, no religion’ cert

Chandrapur: Preetisha Saha, a 35-year-old lawyer from Baniya (Hindu) community, has applied with the district administration to delink her caste and religious identity and issuance of a certificate declaring that she belongs to ‘no caste, no religion’.
Following the footsteps of a practising lawyer from Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district Sneha Parthibaraja, who is considered to be the first Indian to obtain ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate on the orders of Madras high court on February 19, 2019, after a prolonged legal battle, Saha filed a formal application with collector Ajay Gulhane.
If her plea is accepted, Saha will be the first in Maharashtra and only second in the country to have no caste and religious identity officially.
Saha, born and brought up in Hindu (Baniya) family and a resident of Sarkar Nagar in the city, is miffed by the caste and religiously biased atmosphere in the country. She holds that secularism and harmony is subdued following Hindu-Muslim hatred running thick in the country and hence she is determined to escape the dominance of caste and religion.
“According to Article 25 of the Constitution, people have the right to choose and practise their own religion. This Article awards the citizens the right to practise religion according to their own intellect. The citizens also have right to remain aloof from religion,” she says.
“Article 19 - (1) (a) of the Constitution provides for freedom of expression if one wants to live a life free from caste and religion,” she stated.
Saha, who is a firm believer in the values, principles and ideology of the Constitution, says Parthibaraja had to fight a legal battle for about nine years to gain her right. Similarly, using her fundamental rights, she has started a legal and administrative fight for ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate.
In her application to collector, Saha says she wants to give up all facilities she gets on the basis of caste and religion. She does not want to mention caste and religion in any of her certificates. While expressing her identity as an Indian by adhering to constitutional values, Saha wants to live her life regardless of religion or caste.
Collector has forwarded her request letter to the administration for further action, she told.