The issue of caste and caste based discrimination is no longer just a concern in India. There have been numerous developments around legislations pertaining to caste in the US. Now two Indian-Americans have sued the California Civil Rights Department(CRD) on the premise of an allegation laid by the department on them. The CRD had earlier alleged that the two who worked as engineers in CISCO discriminated against a person who identified himself as a ‘dalit’.
The allegation dates back to 2020, when the dalit man accused that he was not given the head of engineering position in a start-up because of his caste. This case was however dismissed by the CRD themselves in 2023 in the Supreme Court.
The two engineers have joined hands with the Hindu American Foundation(HAF) to file a complaint alleging that the CRD’s case has infringed the human rights of Hindus living across California. This allegation is based on the assumption laid by CRD that caste based discrimination is integral to Hindu practices and belief.
In the complaint, the HAF has alleged that the state of California is defaming all Hindus residing in the state going against the constitution of the USA. California has recently passed a bill that bans caste discrimination and when implemented, it will make caste, a protected category in the anti-discrimination laws.
