Our Bureau
New Delhi
The Supreme Court of India has ruled that a person who converts to a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism cannot keep their Scheduled Caste (SC) status. The court said such conversion leads to the “immediate and complete” loss of SC identity, even if the person is born into a Scheduled Caste family.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and N. V. Anjaria passed the order while hearing a case from Andhra Pradesh. The court upheld a High Court decision that a Christian pastor, who was originally from a SC community, could not claim protection under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act after becoming a practicing Christian. The judges held that only those following Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism can be treated as members of a Scheduled Caste under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.
The court stressed that the 1950 order clearly bars SC status if a person adopts any other religion. The restriction, it said, is “absolute” and applies regardless of birth or social background. The verdict means that once a person actively practises a faith like Christianity, Islam or any other non‑listed religion, they lose access to caste‑based reservations and legal safeguards meant for Scheduled Castes.
