Honour (caste) killing is the extreme reflection of casteism. The recent Assembly election results in Tamil Nadu have shown that people can indeed be convinced to vote without considering the caste or community of the contestants. In fact, a government has been formed by largely nullifying the factors of caste. Therefore, this government should take the responsibility and initiative to eradicate caste from the minds of the people, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has said.Justice B. Pugalendhi said casteism had become deep-rooted in the minds of the people and it was spoiling the entire system. “No matter how powerful or privileged a person is, everyone is experiencing casteism in one form or another. Even we, Judges, are not spared from the same. Motives are attributed to our orders on the basis of caste, even though the cases are being decided on the basis of merit.”Even great leaders like Kamaraj, Muthuramalinga Thevar, VO. Chidambaram were now projected on a communal basis. This mindset of the people had to be changed and the State alone could bring about such a change. The State had to take strong initiative. However, even certain political parties were adding fuel to this social evil by using caste to mobilise votes, the court said.This kind of mindset was more prevalent in southern districts. When there was an incident of violence among school students, the State appointed a committee headed by retired Madras High Court Judge K. Chandru to suggest measures to eradicate casteism and ensure social harmony in schools.The committee submitted its report to the government. However, the recommendations had not been implemented in full. The legislations such as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act had not yielded the expected results. The incidents being reported under this Act were increasing day by day and reforms had to be made from the school level, the court said.People might be afraid of changing their mindset due to the need to appease their own community members. However, one should remember that soldiers drawn from every caste, community, language, and region of the country served the nation on the borders. When they faced enemy fire and made the ultimate sacrifice in defence of the motherland, neither their blood nor their patriotism bore the mark of caste. Their lives and sacrifices embodied the ideals of unity and equality that formed the bedrock of our Constitution, the court said.It must be remembered that the State could claim ‘true change’ only when the mindset of the people was changed, the court said.The court made the observation while allowing the bail petition filed by K. Saravanan, father of S. Surjith, who was arrested for the murder of Scheduled Caste techie C. Kavin Selvaganesh.Taking into account that Saravanan was in jail for the past 10 months, his wife had been arrested in connection with the case, the final report had been filed and the proceedings against him stayed by the court, the court said keeping him in jail any longer would amount to pre-trial imprisonment and therefore, it was inclined to grant him bail. The court directed him to stay in Coimbatore and report before R.S. Puram Police Station at 10.30 a.m. and 5.00pm. every day. Published - June 11, 2026 08:50 pm IST