Anti-caste activists in the US. Photo: americankahani.com New Delhi: In a major win for the anti-caste movement in the United States of America, the US District Court for the Eastern District of California on July 18 upheld the state’s constitutional authority to combat caste discrimination. Academics and civil rights activists have lauded the landmark judgment.
The July 18 ruling dismissed the Hindu American Foundation’s (HAF’s) allegation that the enforcement of anti-caste policies by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) violated the “constitutional rights of all Hindu Americans”.
The court dismissed the allegation, stating that HAF had neither standing nor any valid arguments to bring the case to the court. Judge Dale A. Drozd said that HAF was being hypocritical in claiming that caste is not integral to Hinduism, while also claiming that caste-based protections infringe on Hindu religious rights.
He dismissed HAF’s Second Amended Complaint without leave to amend, stating that the organisation’s arguments were so fundamentally flawed that “amendment would be futile in this case”.
The court’s strong rejection of HAF’s standing also raises questions about the organisation’s claims to represent the broader Hindu American community, particularly as other Hindu advocacy groups have publicly supported anti-caste civil rights enforcement.
The verdict will have a direct impact on the high-profile litigation against Cisco Systems for alleged caste-based workplace discrimination. In September 2022, HAF sued CRD, claiming that the agency sought to define what Hindus believe by asserting that caste-based discrimination is integral to their faith and culture.
This judgment, therefore, establishes important legal precedent affirming that civil rights enforcement targeting caste discrimination does not constitute religious persecution or government overreach. It underscores that the state civil rights departments have both the authority and obligation to protect individuals from caste-based discrimination in workplaces and other public accommodations.
For the larger anti-caste movement, civil rights activists say the ruling will be a major shot in the arm, as it allows them to fight the malaise by leveraging state institutions and legal protections.
The Ambedkar King Study Circle, USA (AKSC), a California-based anti-caste and social justice organisation, has called the ruling not only a legal win, but “a major victory for civil rights and social justice”.
“The court’s judgment makes it clear that enforcing civil rights laws does not infringe on religious liberty. This decision sends a strong message: caste-based exclusion and abuse have no place in our institutions, and those impacted can seek justice under the law in the USA,” Karthikeyan Shanmugam, convenor of the AKSC, said.
The Hindu American Foundation announced in September 2022 that it had sued the California Department of Civil Rights in federal court, claiming the agency sought to define what Hindus believe by asserting that caste-based discrimination is integral to their faith and culture.
Dr. Roja Singh, President of the Dalit Solidarity Forum, underlined the ruling’s broader implications by saying, “The decades-long campaign of caste-based oppression in the U.S. is finally being confronted.”
Hindu advocacy organisations in the US that reject HAF’s approach have also hailed the verdict. “Hindu far-right groups have continued to weaponise the language of civil rights and religious freedom, but they continue to fail miserably in the courts,” said Vivek Kembaiyan, Western Regional Organiser at Hindus for Human Rights.
He further stated, “The Hindu American Foundation and its right-wing extremist allies do not speak for Hindus, and their arguments that caste has nothing to do with Hinduism are dishonest and harmful.”
Jawad Ahmed, President of the Indian American Muslim Council, also weighed in. “This judgment is an important affirmation of what we all know: that CRD’s lawsuit was in pursuit of affirming civil rights and human dignity for all, and that no group should weaponise its identity to double down on systemic forms of oppression.”
The legal issue goes back to California’s landmark 2020 lawsuit against Cisco Systems, accusing the firm of failing to prevent caste-based discrimination against a Dalit engineer by his upper-caste colleagues. Although CRD rejected the case against two individual Cisco engineers in April 2023, it, however, continued its case against the firm.
The HAF in September 2022 said that it was taking CRD to federal court, accusing the agency of defining what Hindus believe. The agency asserted that caste-based discrimination is integral to their faith and culture.
