The Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh administration to ensure that members of the Scheduled Castes who have converted to Christianity do not avail benefits meant for the designated groups.
Citing a 2024 Supreme Court order, the bench said on November 21 that persons availing reservations by claiming that they belong to a Scheduled Caste despite having converted amounts to a “fraud on the Constitution”.
The High Court set a four-month deadline for all district magistrates in the state to identify such cases.
The direction by a bench of Justice Praveen Kumar Giri came while dismissing an application filed by a person, Jitendra Sahani, who is accused of making derogatory comments about Hindu deities and promoting communal enmity, to quash the case against him.
The court noted that while the man had stated in his affidavit that he is a Hindu, the additional government advocate had drawn the bench’s attention to a witness’s account that Sahani had converted to Christianity and become a priest.
The order quoted the witness as alleging that Sahani had ridiculed Hinduism by claiming it offered no respect because of caste hierarchies, and that converting to Christianity would lead to jobs, business growth and economic benefits from a “missionary”.
The court said that it finds it pertinent to mention that according to the 1950 Constitution Scheduled Caste Order, no person who belongs to a community other than Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist shall be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Caste.
It asked the district magistrate of Maharajganj to enquire about the religion of the applicant within three months and take action against him if he is found guilty of forgery.
The court also asked the Uttar Pradesh government to look into the matter and take action or pass orders directing the authorities “so that law may be executed in reality/true sense”.
The court cited the 2024 Supreme Court judgement to state that upon conversion to Christianity, a person ceases to belong to their original caste.
Also read: Why proposed reservations for Dalit Muslims, Christians have sharply divided Ambedkarites
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