India has entered the digital age, but some of our oldest social hierarchies are being quietly rebuilt into modern technology. Today, most matrimonial websites allow users to filter potential partners based on caste. While these platforms claim to simply “reflect demand,” they are in effect institutionalising and normalising caste-based segregation in a new, algorithmic form.

This is not about restricting personal choices. Instead, it is about preventing the reinforcement of systemic inequities and prejudices that have divided Indian society for generations. The caste system has historically sustained itself through endogamy (intra-caste marriages). As long as endogamy remains widespread and structurally enabled, caste divisions and hierarchies continue to reproduce themselves across generations. If we are serious about long-term caste abolition, we must begin to gradually weaken the systems that make endogamy the default.

Matrimonial platforms today play a powerful role in this process. A majority of marriages in India are still arranged, and millions rely on such platforms. By making caste-based filtering easy, visible, and normalized, these platforms are not merely reflecting society—they are actively shaping it.

At the same time, this petition does not claim that removing caste filters will eliminate same-caste marriages. People may still choose partners within their caste through family networks or other offline means. However, that is precisely why it becomes even more important that modern, public-facing digital platforms do not openly legitimise and normalise caste-based sorting. Social change is gradual, and reducing such normalization is a necessary step toward influencing future generations.

Importantly, this does not infringe on individual freedom. Individuals remain completely free to choose whom they marry. The question here is about whether private digital platforms should be allowed to systematically enable and promote caste-based segregation. In many areas, governments already regulate platforms to prevent harmful or discriminatory practices. Private companies do not have an unrestricted right to design systems that reinforce known social harms.

We urge matrimonial websites to remove caste filter options from their platforms. Doing so will not end caste practices overnight, but it will help ensure that such practices are not actively normalised and reinforced through modern digital systems.

Furthermore, we call upon the Government of Tamil Nadu to explore and introduce appropriate guidelines or regulations that discourage or prohibit caste-based filtering practices on digital platforms operating within its jurisdiction.

Sign this petition to ensure we do not continue to modernise and normalise caste through digital systems. This may not end caste overnight—but it is a necessary step toward ensuring we do not continue to modernise and normalise it for future generations.