Introduction

The Constitution of India, 1950 (COI) articulates in unequivocal words the eradication of the Untouchability. Article 17 of the COI deals with the abolition of untouchability.

Article 17 of the COI

• This Article states that untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of untouchability shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.
• The right under Article 17 is available against private individuals and it is the constitutional obligation of the State to take necessary action to ensure that this right is not violated.
• The subject matter of Article 17 is not untouchability in its literal or grammatical sense but the ‘practice as it had developed historically in the country’. It refers to the social disabilities imposed on certain classes of persons by reason of their birth in certain castes.

Untouchability

• The term untouchability has not been defined either in the COI or in the Act.
• Literally, the term includes treating persons as untouchable either temporarily or otherwise for various reasons such as suffering from contagious diseases or on account of social observances associated with birth or death or social boycott resulting from caste or other disputes.

Case Laws

• In Devarajiah v. Padmanna (1961), the Supreme Court held that the purpose of Article 17 was to end the inhuman practice of treating certain fellow beings as dirty by reason of their birth in certain Castes.
• In State of Karnataka v. Appa Balu Ingale (1993), the Supreme Court held that untouchability was an indirect form of slavery and only an extension of the caste system. The Court observed that Caste System and Untouchability have stood together and would fall together. It is absolutely necessary and imperative to abolish the caste system as expeditiously as possible for the smooth functioning of the rule of law and democracy.