- India
- Mar 25
- Sreesha V.M
Only Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists can claim Scheduled Caste status, rules apex court
• The Supreme Court ruled that a Scheduled Caste (SC) community person converting to a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism loses the SC status from the moment of conversion regardless of birth.
• On April 30, 2025, the High Court held that once an individual converts to Christianity and actively professes and practices the faith, he cannot be regarded as a member of the Scheduled Caste community.
• It had quashed charges filed by a complainant, who had converted to Christianity and become a pastor but invoked the SC/ST Act in a criminal case.
• The pastor filed a criminal case in 2021 alleging that they assaulted him while he was performing pastoral duties and conducting Sunday prayers in a village in Andhra Pradesh.
Key points of the SC verdict:
• In exercise of powers conferred under Article 341(1) of the Constitution, the President issued the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.
• This Order specifies the castes deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to various states and Union Territories.
• As originally enacted in the year 1950, Clause 3 restricted Scheduled Caste status to persons professing the Hindu religion.
• It was subsequently amended in 1956 to include persons professing the Sikh religion.
• Later, in 1990, the provision was further extended to include persons professing the Buddhist religion.
• No person who professes a religion other than Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste. This bar under Clause 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 is categorical and absolute.
• Conversion to any religion not specified in Clause 3 results in immediate and complete loss of Scheduled Caste 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 the membership of a Scheduled Caste can be claimed by or extended to any person who, by operation of Clause 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, is not deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.
• A person cannot simultaneously profess and practice a religion other than the ones specified in Clause 3 of Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and claim membership of a Scheduled Caste at the same time.
• A person who professes and practices such religion for personal, social and spiritual purposes cannot in law, assert membership of a Scheduled Caste for the purpose of securing statutory benefits.
• Christianity, by its very theological foundation, does not recognise or incorporate the institution of caste, the court noted.
(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)