Rohit Kumar
NEW DELHI, Mar 24: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that only Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists can claim to be a member of the scheduled castes community and those converting to any other religion including Christianity will lose the benefits and protections granted to the SCs under the constitution.
Upholding an Andhra Pradesh high court judgment, the bench of justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan said once an individual voluntarily converts and actively practices another faith, the legal entitlements tied to SC identity, including protection under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, cease to apply.
It endorsed the high court’s reasoning that the constitutional scheme under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, restricts the SC status to specified religions, and that conversion beyond this framework automatically disqualifies a person from claiming such status. The court underlined that the determinative factor was the religion professed at the time of the incident, not merely the existence of a caste certificate.
The Bench headed by Justice Mishra invoked Clause 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, which mandates that “no person who professes a religion different from Hinduism shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.” The court said the restriction under the clause was absolute.
The court found that conversion to any religion not specified in Clause 3 of the 1950 order by a Scheduled Caste member would lead to the loss of the reserved category status. A Scheduled Caste person who converts to Christianity cannot claim violation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
“No statutory benefit, protection or reservation or entitlement under the Constitution or enactment of Parliament or State legislature can be claimed by or extended to any person who by operation of Clause 3 is not deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Caste. This bar is absolute and admits no exception. A person cannot simultaneously profess and practice a religion other than the one specified in Clause 3 and claim membership of the Scheduled Caste,” the top court said.
The decision came in the case of a person, who converted to Christianity and acted as a pastor, but had filed a case under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against certain persons who had allegedly subjected him to assault and caste-based abuse in his village. The accused challenged the proceedings on the ground that the complainant, Chinthada Anand, had converted to Christianity and was actively functioning as a pastor, thereby disentitling him from invoking protections meant exclusively for the SC.
The Supreme Court noted that the facts on record left little room for doubt. The petitioner had not claimed any reconversion to his original faith nor any re-acceptance into his caste community. On the contrary, evidence showed that he had been practicing Christianity for over a decade and regularly conducting prayer meetings as a pastor. The bench observed that these “concurrent facts” clearly established that he continued to profess Christianity at the time of the alleged incident, making him ineligible for the SC status and the protections flowing from it.
The decision effectively endorses the Andhra Pradesh high court’s April 30, 2025, ruling delivered by Justice N Harinath, which had quashed the criminal proceedings initiated under the SC/ST Act. The high court held that the caste system is alien to Christianity and that a person who has voluntarily converted cannot seek the benefit of a law designed to address caste-based discrimination within the Hindu social structure and its legally recognized extensions.
The high court rejected the argument that the continued possession of a caste certificate entitled the complainant to protection under the SC/ST Act. It clarified that the validity or cancellation of such a certificate is a separate administrative issue to be dealt with under the Andhra Pradesh (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes) Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act, 1993. Mere non-cancellation, it held, does not revive or sustain eligibility once conversion has taken place.
The case traces back to a 2021 complaint filed by Anand from Guntur district, who alleged that certain individuals opposed his evangelical activities, assaulted him, and used caste-based slurs. Based on his complaint, police registered offenses under provisions of the SC/ST Act as well as the Indian Penal Code and filed a charge sheet.
One of the accused, Akkala Rami Reddy, approached the high court seeking quashing of the case, arguing that the invocation of the SC/ST Act was legally untenable given the complainant’s admitted conversion. Agreeing with this contention, the high court held that the protective framework of the SC/ST Act is intended specifically for members of the SCs and Scheduled Tribes, and cannot be extended to those who have chosen to exit that social and legal category by converting to another religion. It observed that allowing such claims would amount to a misuse of the statute.
The SC ruling is expected to have impact on similar issues elsewhere. Only last week some representatives of All India Bahujan Samaj Party (AIBSP), Christian Coordination Council (CCC) and the community leaders had demanded that the government grant Scheduled Caste (SC) status to Christians of Dalit origin. The leaders raised concerns over what they described as the continued failure of the successive governments in Andhra Pradesh to resolve the issue.
Addressing the media, former DGP J. Purnachandra Rao alleged that successive governments headed by Chief Ministers from dominant communities, including Kamma and Reddy leadership, for decades had not made adequate efforts to secure a favorable decision from the Centre. Despite having political influence at the national level, the issue was not accorded a priority, he had alleged.
Pointing to the implementation of the reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), he said political leadership had acted with speed and coordination to extend benefits to the dominant communities, while the long-pending demand of Dalit Christians had not been received with similar urgency.
“If governments could move swiftly to ensure EWS reservations for the Kammas and Reddies, why has there been no comparable effort to secure SC status for Dalit Christians for over seven decades?” he asked. Mr Rao had said Dalit Christians continued to face untouchability, social exclusion and economic backwardness, but were denied SC status solely on the basis of religion. He argued that this amounted to ‘discrimination’ and called for corrective action in line with constitutional principles.
Former IAS officer Samuel Anand Kumar, CCC president Ashok Kumar and others demanded the repeal of Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and the granting of SC status to Dalit Christians. Later, the leaders submitted a representation addressed to the President of India to the NTR district Collector.
In another case, the Allahabad High Court had recently asked the Uttar Pradesh government to crack down on people who have converted to Christianity but continue to avail benefits meant for Scheduled Castes (SC).
A Bench of Justice Praveen Kumar Giri in its order passed on November 21 cited an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which said caste-based discrimination did not exist within the Christian faith, and therefore the basis for Scheduled Caste classification stands nullified upon conversion, irrespective of the existence of any previously issued caste certificate.
The Bench also cited a Supreme Court order which observed that claiming caste-based benefits merely for the purpose of availing reservation after conversion amounts to a “fraud on the Constitution.”
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