india marriage indian-penal-code indian-constitutional-law
Is marriage rejection on the basis of caste a criminal offence?
<p>I am a Brahmin and my girlfriend is Schedule caste, and my parents are denying our marriage because of caste. Will it be considered a criminal offence under Indian caste discrimination law, if any?</p>

<p>The applicable law of India is <a href="https://cjp.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/The-Scheduled-Castes-And-the-Scheduled-Tribes-Prevention-of-Atrocities-Act-1989-1.pdf" rel="noreferrer">The Scheduled Castes And the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989</a> plus the <a href="https://cjp.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Atrocities-Amendment.pdf" rel="noreferrer">2015 amendment</a>. There are various prohibited acts, the majority of which are already crimes, such as numerous kinds of assault, trespass, unlawful eviction, also including knowingly making obscene gestures at    a  woman  belonging to  a  Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe. It also includes social and economic boycotts, to some extent (as a means of preventing such a person from voting). Parents can freely refuse to sanction / support the marriage of whoever they chose, but they cannot forcibly interfere, for instance by kidnapping one of the participants.</p>
