The Supreme Court has ruled that a person who converts from a Scheduled Caste to Christianity loses their Scheduled Caste (SC) status and cannot claim the benefits available to Scheduled Castes under the Constitution.
A bench of Justices P. K. Mishra and Manmohan upheld an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, holding that once a person converts to Christianity and genuinely professes and practises that religion, they can no longer be treated as a member of a Scheduled Caste.
The Court said that the legal position flows directly from the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, which restricts Scheduled Caste status to persons professing Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism. It observed that Clause 3 of the 1950 Order makes the restriction absolute, meaning that a person professing any other religion ceases to qualify as a Scheduled Caste, regardless of their birth.
The bench also ruled that a Dalit who has converted to Christianity cannot claim protection under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 on the basis of Scheduled Caste status.
Under the current legal framework, Scheduled Caste status is recognised only for members of the Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist faiths. Persons who convert to Christianity or Islam are not entitled to retain SC status under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, unless Parliament amends the law or the constitutional framework is changed.
The judgment reaffirms the existing legal position rather than creating a new rule, reiterating that conversion to a religion not covered by the 1950 Order results in the loss of Scheduled Caste status and the associated constitutional benefits.
