The Supreme Court has ruled that individuals who convert to religions other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism will lose their SC/ST status and protection against casteist slurs under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan passed the verdict on Tuesday while dismissing the appeal of Christian pastor Chinthada Anand, who had converted to Christianity a decade ago and had complained of casteist slurs and attacks by members of other communities in Andhra Pradesh.
Anand’s appeal had challenged an Andhra Pradesh High Court order that quashed the criminal case registered against six people in Guntur district under the stringent SC/ST Act based on his complaint.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court had quashed the case on the ground that Anand could not invoke the special Act as he was no longer professing Hinduism, but had converted to Christianity and was also discharging duties as a pastor.
Dismissing Anand’s appeal, Justice Mishra, who authored the judgment, said the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, had made it clear that conversion to any religion not specified in Clause 3 of the 1950 order resulted in immediate loss of Schedule Caste status, regardless of birth, and this bar was “absolute”.
Laying down the criteria that a claimant must fulfil to be recognised as an SC/ST member, the top court said:
- The claimant must demonstrably belong to a caste or tribe, which is specifically notified and recognised under Clause 2 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, and such status must be established by clear, cogent and unimpeachable evidence.
- No person who professes a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism shall be deemed an SC member. This bar under Clause 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order is categorical and absolute. Conversion to any religion not specified in Clause 3 results in immediate and complete loss of SC status from the moment of conversion, regardless of birth.
- No statutory benefit, protection, reservation, or entitlement under the Constitution or under any enactment of Parliament or state legislature that is predicated upon SC membership can be claimed by or extended to any person who, by operation of Clause 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, is not deemed to be an SC member. This bar is absolute and admits no exception.
- A person cannot simultaneously profess and practise a religion other than the ones specified in Clause 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order and claim SC membership at the same time. Where a person claims to have reconverted, they must prove such reconversion as being genuine through bona fide and unimpeachable evidence “accompanied by complete and unequivocal renunciation of the religion to which conversion had taken place, total dissociation therefrom, and actual adoption and observance of the customs, usages, practices, rituals, and religious obligations of the original caste”.
“Therefore, we are of the view that the high court was right in holding that the appellant has ceased to be a member of the Scheduled Caste on his conversion to Christianity. Accordingly, the appellant cannot be a person aggrieved under the SC/ST Act,” Justice Mishra said.