The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that conversion to Christianity and other religions results in the loss of Scheduled Caste (SC) status, holding that a person who professes a faith other than Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism cannot claim the constitutional protections available to members of SC.. The court said once an individual voluntarily converts and actively practices another faith, the legal entitlements tied to SC identity, including protection under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, cease to apply. (HT PHOTO). 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 underscored that the determinative factor is the religion professed at the time of the incident, not merely the existence of a caste certificate.. The ruling arose from a case involving a pastor from Andhra Pradesh who invoked the SC/ST Act, alleging assault and caste-based abuse by certain individuals 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 practising 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 recognised 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
