EXCEPTIONAL CASE: Snegha received the certificate from a tahsildar in Tirupattur on February 5

VELLORE: ‘This is to certify that she does not belong to any caste or religion’. A tahsildar in Tirupattur issued such a certificate to A Snegha Parthibaraja , a lawyer who later claimed she was the first in the country to get such an official certificate.

The 35-year-old lawyer said: “Irrespective of what caste or religion they were born into, people with means should apply for the ‘no-caste-no-religion’ status , so that economically weaker sections and individuals fighting for their basic rights would get their due without hassle.”

She told TOI that she married author Parthibaraja “challenging a traditional marriage system”. She said that despite several court directives and government orders clarifying that no one could be compelled to mention caste name in certificates, schools made students mention their caste and community names in their certificates.

“Being an advocate I wanted to break this barrier. As a result of my nine-year struggle and regular follow-up on the last application submitted in May 2017, the government has now issued the no-caste-no-religion certificate,” the lawyer said.

When asked under what rule such a certificate had been issued, Tirupattur sub-collector Priyanka Pankajam refused to quote the rule but said it was an ‘exceptional case’, and that the tahsildar himself had the power to issue such certificates after verification.

Advocate thanks Vellore sub-collector & tahsildar

She also expressed her gratitude to the district administration officials, including subcollector Priyanka Pankajam and tahsildar Sathiyamoorthy, for issuing the certificate.

Priyanka Pankajam said, “After coming across Snegha’s petition we verified her documents, in which there is no mention of caste or religion. We conducted a personal verification of her family background and her lifestyle. After ascertaining that the certificate she demand matched with her lifestyle, we decided to sanction her petition and certify her as a no-casteno-religion person on February 5.”

