The Myriad States of the Caste of Mind

In the last few years, the nature of judicial intervention in ensuring justice to the needy and the most vulnerable sections of Indian society has acquired a mixed character. In one respect, it looks affirmative, and in another, it looks conservative. It is intriguing to notice the overlap between the caste of mind and the legal mind that is supposed to work according to the modern law books and an egalitarian interpretation of legal provisions that transforms social relations rather than arrests them. The caste of mind that considers personal virtue—such as goodness and righteousness—as naturally available among the persons from the high castes was visible in the views of a member of the legislative assembly (MLA) who is reported to have said that superior cultural upbringing or sanskara is evidence enough to prove the innocence of a high-caste person against the charges of rape.