Book review: Against Caste in British Law: A Critical Perspective on the Caste Discrimination Provision in the Equality Act 2010
| Published date | 01 March 2016 |
| Author | David Keane |
| DOI | 10.1177/1358229115625267 |
| Date | 01 March 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Book review
Book review
PRAKASH SHAH, Against Caste in British Law: A Critical Perspective on the Caste Discrimination Pro-
vision in the Equality Act 2010. London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan Pivot Series, 2015, pp. 142,
ISBN: 9781137571182, $67.50 (hbk).
Reviewed by: David Keane, Middlesex University, UK
DOI: 10.1177/1358229115625267
Shah’s Against Caste in British Law is an important voice in the contemporary
discussion on caste legislation in the United Kingdom. The debate aro und caste has
intensified on both sides with pro- and anti-legislation groups consolidating their
positions in the vacuum created by current and deliberate government inaction on
the issue. In short, what began as a discretionary power under section 9(5)(a) of the
Equality Act 2010 to make caste ‘an aspect of’ the protected characteristic of race
was turned into a duty to make caste an aspect of race under section 97 of the Enter-
prise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. This duty has yet to be implemented. In the
meantime, the Employment Appeals Tribunal decision in Chandok v. Tirkey (2015)
has led to speculation that caste is already part of the Equality Act through judicial
interpretation, reflected in media reports that it is Britain’s first caste discrimination
case. Shah’s book begins and ends at this point with the question of the status
of caste in British law pending. Its strength lies in its consolidation of the case
against caste in British law, aptly reflected in the title, and there can be little doubt
that the text is representative of a view that is more widely held, although how wide
is open to conjecture.
The book is divided into six chapters, and the format provided by the Pivot series
means it is relatively short and readable, with a punchy tone that fits well with the
urgency the author imparts to the question. It is broadly divided into a specific critique
of the pro-caste legislation movement in the United Kingdom and a wider analysis of the
conditions that foster a disposition to view caste as an important problem that requires
legislative intervention in the United Kingdom. The specific critique has a number of
targets, including the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the National
Secular Society and other organizations supportive of caste legislation, in the absence
of proper evidence argues Shah; the members of the House of Lords who have tabled
and pushed for legislation on caste, often without revealing what the author considers
International Journalof
Discrimination and theLaw
2016, Vol. 16(1) 51–54
ªThe Author(s) 2016
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