Changing Names, Unchanging Caste and the Law in India

In recent times, several claims have been made before Indian courts to seek the change of one’s first name or surname. Such claims are being made for many different reasons out of which one reason stands out which is to hide one’s caste identity, namely to hide one’s untouchable or Dalit identity. While much has been written about concealing caste in autobiographical literature, and socio-political theories have engaged with the question of identity and recognition, the legal framework governing these practices remains under- examined. The Indian courts have interpreted the right to change one’s name as an aspect of the right to determine one’s identity or the right of self-determination, drawing from existing constitutional law principles and jurisprudence. This jurisprudence on the right to determine one’s identity has evolved through constitutional questions on gender identity, sexual expression, and privacy. However, in this article, I argue that the liberal interpretation of the right to change one’s name as framed through the prism of the individual right to identity under-assumes the pervasive and structural nature of caste and consequentially severely undermines the metric of dignity. I argue that in effect, the judicial recognition of the right to alter one’s name amounts to endorsing a limited right to conceal caste or the right to pass rather than facilitating a genuine right to assert or change one’s caste identity.