On August 6, 2001, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an upper-caste Brahmin boy and a lower-caste Jat girl were dragged to the roof of a house and publicly hanged by members of their own families as hundreds of spectators looked on. The public lynching was punishment for refusing to end an inter-caste relationship. Although this is the most extreme kind of caste-based discrimination, it is far from uncommon in India.

India's caste system it is probably the longest surviving social discriminatory practice based on man-made ideas of lineage purity. It is often referred to as "India's hidden apartheid."

In Sept 2001, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights declared that untouchability, bonded labor, manual scavenging and other caste-based abuses are repugnant and insidious forms of racial discrimination.

Although the caste system it is an integral part of Hindu religious beliefs, it never completely left Sikh social practices - even though Sikhi rejects the caste system outright. In India, Sikhs are a minority engulfed in the practices of the majority Hindu population. But that repressive social phenomenon has made its way into Sikh societies living abroad.

In India, caste divisions dominate housing, education, and jobs. There is also the "soft discrimination" in marriage and general social interaction. The latter is the type most commonly seen here in the U.S. These divisions are usually reinforced through social ostracism.

Caste discrimination has become apparent in Gurduaaras. Some Gurduaaras are being identified as belonging to one caste or another depending on the number of people in the Sangat belonging to a particular caste. People of certain caste are also covertly kept from management positions.

Caste discrimination is generally practiced by first generation Sikhs. The next generation that has grown up in a society devoid of cast issues, are at risk of learning this discriminatory practice through their parents and through social interactions with that generation.

Sikh matrimonials routinely state caste preferences, usually to match that of the family that is advertising. Because a family's surname identifies its caste, discrimination is very easy. Usually the first question asked of a prospective match is what pind, or village, they are from. Some parents are proud of being able to identify the caste of a person from simply a picture. Have generations of same-caste marriages, also known as inbreeding, produced groups of people when discerning features?

Caste discrimination is now firmly on the international human rights agenda, but it has been on the Sikh agenda since its foundation. Caste discrimination based on paternal lineage is simply wrong and should be stopped in its tracks - first by not practicing it, second by not teaching it to the younger generations, and third by ending same-caste marriages.

Writer activist Anju Kaur, a Master in Mechanical Engineering, is editor of the Washington based Sikh Sentinel and may be reached at anjukaur.