Aurangabad- In a historic and deeply sensitive judgment, the Bombay High Court has ruled that a minor girl, born out of rape and raised solely by her single mother, has the fundamental right to have her mother's name, surname, and caste 'Scheduled Caste (SC) - Mahar', recorded in her school documents, replacing the details of her biological father.
A division bench of Justices Vibha Kankanwadi and Hiten S. Venegavkar delivered the verdict on February 2, quashing a school authority's order that had rejected the mother's request for the correction.
The petitioners were a 12-year-old girl and her mother, a resident of Beed district. The court was informed that the girl's biological father was an accused in a criminal case for raping her mother. While a DNA report confirmed his paternity, leading to his name being entered in the birth certificate and school records, a settlement on December 14, 2022, granted permanent custody of the child to the mother, with the father renouncing all future roles and responsibilities.
Following this, the mother got her daughter's name changed through a gazette notification. However, when she approached the school, Kankaleshwar Vidyalaya, Beed to correct the records, changing the girl's surname and, crucially, her caste from the father's 'Maratha' to her own 'Scheduled Caste – Mahar', the Education Officer (Primary) rejected the proposal on June 2, 2025, citing the Secondary School Code as a blanket prohibition against such corrections.
The High Court strongly criticized the authorities' mechanical and patriarchal approach. The bench held that administrative records exist to reflect reality, not to fossilize a false identity. It referred to the state's own Government Resolution of March 14, 2024, which mandates the inclusion of the mother's name in all government documents.
"When the State has itself accepted, as a matter of policy, that the mother's name is central to identity documentation... it is difficult to comprehend how a subordinate authority may take refuge in a sweeping 'no power' position and deny consideration to a request," the court observed.
The court further linked this to the right to dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.
"A child raised exclusively by her mother cannot be compelled to carry, as the State's chosen description of her, the father's name and surname merely because the format once demanded it. If the lived guardianship is maternal, the record cannot insist on paternal visibility."
On Caste Correction: The Core of the Judgment
The most significant aspect of the verdict was the direction to change the girl's caste entry. The state had argued that caste must "ordinarily follow the father." The court dismantled this presumption, terming it an "inherited patriarchal structure."
"The assumption that identity must flow through the father is not a neutral administrative default; it is a social presumption... To insist on this presumption in contemporary India... imposes a structural burden upon women and their children," the bench stated.
Citing the Supreme Court's ruling in Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika v. State of Gujarat (2012), the High Court reiterated that the presumption of a child taking the father's caste is not conclusive and must be determined by the child's upbringing and social milieu. In this case, the girl has been raised exclusively within her mother's Mahar community and has no ties to her father's Maratha community.
"To compel the minor to carry, in her educational records, the caste identity of a person who has completely disconnected himself from her would be contrary to social reality and fairness," the court held.
The judges framed the verdict as a constitutional imperative:
"Recognition of a single mother as a complete parent for purposes of a child's civic identity is not an act of charity; it is constitutional fidelity. It reflects the movement from patriarchal compulsion to constitutional choice, from lineage as fate to dignity as right."
The court issued the following directives:
Name Correction: The Headmaster must forward a fresh proposal to the Education Officer to correct the girl's name and surname in all school records, replacing the father's name with the mother's.
Caste Entry: The school must immediately enter the mother's caste, "Scheduled Caste – Mahar," in the girl's records in place of the father's "Maratha."
Caste Certificate: The mother is permitted to apply for a formal caste certificate for her daughter based on her own SC status. The competent authority must consider it expeditiously, applying a "fact-sensitive approach" without insisting on paternal records.
Protection of the Child: The court directed all authorities to ensure the minor child is not subjected to any stigma, harassment, or unnecessary disclosure during this process.
The court made its rule absolute, quashing the June 2, 2025, communication, and disposing of the petition with no order as to costs.
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