TN woman gets ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate

In what is seen as a first such formal certification in the country, a woman in Tamil Nadu has managed to get a government letter certifying that she does not belong to any caste or religion.

The 35-year-old woman advocate Sneha, hailing from Tirupattur in Vellore district, led a decade-long battle to officially shed her caste and religious denomination.

She hails from a family of lawyers. Her parents, elder sister and younger sister are all qualified advocates. “Even while enrolling us in schools, our parents did not give out our religion and caste but getting admission was not easy. We had to cross several hurdles all along to live as someone who is not bound by any caste or religious affiliation,” Sneha said.

In fact, to ensure that none gets to identify their religion, her parents named her sisters Mumtaj and Jennifer. “I was named Sneha, in memory of Kannada actress Snehalatha, a close associate of socialite leader George Fernandes, who was tortured in prison during the Emergency and subsequently died,” she said. Sneha‘s three daughters too have been given religionneutral names - Adhirai Nazreen, Adhila Zareen and Asifa Jency.