Tamil Nadu Woman Becomes The First Indian With ‘No Caste, No Religion’ Certificate

There are many who refrain from following a certain religion, who believe in calling themselves free from any caste or creed. Then there are the ones who strive hard putting years of struggle just to get this thing legal and official.

MA Sneha from Tirupattur, Tamil Nadu has finally won her long-drawn battle to issue herself a certificate which declares that ‘she does not belong to any religion or caste’.

The 35-year-old lawyer, Sneha grew up in a family which neither believed in any caste nor religion. She was very much keen on getting this idea of a religious discrimination-free environment endorsed.

Sneha has become the first ever citizen of India to receive such a certificate. She believes that this initiative will definitely work in favour of social change.

image source

“I started to apply for a [no religion, no caste] certificate in 2010, but officials kept rejecting it for some reason. Some said there was no precedent in the country. It was in 2017 that I began to stand by ground and explained [my stand] to officials. I justified my stand, saying they should look into my request as I had availed no government schemes or reservation,” Sneha told The Hindu.

Tirupattur tahsildar T.S. Sathiyamoorthy handed over her the certificate on February 5.

“When people who believe in caste and religion have certificates, why not issue certificates to people like us?” asks Sneha.

Quite legit!

📣 Storypick is now on Telegram! Click here to join our channel (@storypick) and never miss another great story.