Sneha, a lawyer from Tiruppattur, Vellore, finally ended her nine-year-long battle for ‘an identity’ by obtaining an official no-caste, no-religion certificate.
Sneha’s parents always kept the columns for her caste and religion blank in official forms, including her birth certificate, and she believed in the same ideology.
However, she also wished to officially certify the same, and on February 05, after nine years she finally got a certificate declaring that she had ‘no caste, no religion’.
For Sneha, this a crucial step towards social change. More importantly, she wants her identity to exist ‘sans-caste and religion’. She shared with The Hindu
All my certificates have nil or are blank against the ‘caste’ and ‘religion’ columns. This includes my birth certificate and school certificates. They mention me as an Indian. But I started to realize that every application form I filled mandated enclosure of community certificate. So, I had to obtain a self-affidavit. It was only then that it occurred to me that I needed an identity that was sans caste and religion. When people who believe in caste and religion have certificates, why not issue certificates to people like us.
She started to apply for a no-caste, no-religion identity back in 2010, and she claims she is the first one to have obtained a certificate for this. In fact, her struggle was long-drawn because no such certificate had been issued in the past.
But she stood her ground and explained her stand to the officials, and finally, obtained the certificate. Actor and politician Kamal Haasan also appreciated her efforts and congratulated her on Twitter.
Sneha firmly believes in this identity, and in fact, she and her husband have left the religion and caste columns blank in official forms for their three daughters too.