In an important decision on Tuesday, the Supreme Court clearly stated that only people of Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist religion have the status of Scheduled Caste (SC).
If a person converts from any of these three religions to another religion, such as Christianity or Islam, he automatically loses his Scheduled Caste status. The bench of Justice PK Mishra and Justice Manmohan said that any person who follows any religion other than Hindu, Sikh or Buddhism cannot be a member of the Scheduled Caste.
in another religion Scheduled Caste status would be lost due to religious conversionIs. The court also clarified that no case can be registered against such a person under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act), because he no longer belongs to the Scheduled Caste.
Andhra Pradesh case
This decision was given on the appeal of Chinthada Anand, a priest from Andhra Pradesh. Anand had alleged that Akkala Ramireddy and others subjected him to caste discrimination and abused him. He lodged a complaint under the SC/ST Act, on which the police registered an FIR. Ramireddy filed a petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court to cancel the FIR. High Court Justice N Harinath quashed the FIR and said that Anand had lost his SC status after converting to Christianity, hence he cannot get the protection of the SC/ST Act. The court also said that it does not matter if Anand has a Scheduled Caste certificate, because caste system is not considered in Christianity, hence his SC status automatically ends. Anand appealed against this in the Supreme Court, which was rejected.
Court’s reasoning
That the Scheduled Caste status in the Constitution is limited exclusively to Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religions. After conversion to other religions, the person comes out of the situation of social and economic backwardness on the basis of which SC reservations and protection are given. The court clarified that after conversion, the SC certificate has no legal value. This decision is being considered important in all those cases where people of Dalit community have been claiming protection under SC reservation, government schemes or SC/ST Act even after converting to Christianity or other religions.