Mr. Dhirendra Nath Datta : Sir, it
seems to me that whether the
definition suggested by Mr. Rohini
Kumar Chaudhury is accepted or not,
it is necessary that there should be
that ‘untouchability’ in any form is an
some definition put in. Here it is said
offence. A magistrate or a judge dealing
with offences shall have to look to the
definition. One magistrate will consider
a particular thing to be untouchability,
while another magistrate may hold a
different thing to be untouchability,
with the result there will be no
uniformity on the part of the magistracy in dealing with offences. It will be very
difficult for the judge to decide cases.

Moreover, untouchability means different things in different areas. In Bengal,
untouchability means one thing, while in other provinces, it means an entirely
different thing.
Mr. President, ... I take it that the Union legislature will define the word
‘untouchability’ so that the courts might prescribe proper punishment.
[Eventually, it was decided to leave the definition of untouchability out of the
Constitution and leave it to the legislature to make appropriate laws in the future.

nstitution and ‘social engineering’
The makers of Indian Constitution confronted the fact that Indian society was
ridden with inequality, injustice and deprivation and was a victim of colonial policies
which had exploited its economy. Thus, the Constitution had to facilitate social
change and development. Jawaharlal Nehru said that the Constituent Assembly
represents “the nation on a move throwing away the shell of its past political and
possibly social structure and fashioning for itself a new garment in its own making”.
The Constitution thus has many provisions facilitating social change. You have
read about abolition of Untouchability. The best example of this is the provision for
reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution. The
makers of the Constitution believed that the mere granting of the right to equality
was not enough to overcome age-old injustices suffered by these groups or to give
real meaning to their right to vote. Special constitutional measures were required
to advance their interests. Therefore, the constitution makers provided a number of
special measures to protect the interests of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes