New Delhi, April 10 The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to stop the caste census, and criticized the petitioner for the language used in the public interest litigation (PIL).
"You have used inappropriate language in your petition. Who wrote this petition for you?" a visibly angry Chief Justice Surya Kant told the petitioner, who was appearing in person.
"Where do you get this language from in your petition?" the Chief Justice, who was heading the bench which also comprised Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, asked the petitioner.
The bench dismissed the plea, which also sought a direction to the Centre to formulate policies to provide economic incentives to families with a single child.
On February 2, the top court had refused to entertain a separate PIL questioning the procedure to be adopted to record, classify, and verify the caste data of citizens in the 2027 general census.
The 2027 Census, officially the 16th national census, will be the first to include comprehensive caste enumeration since 1931 and the country's first fully digital census.