SC status lost after conversion from Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism to other religions: Supreme Court
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that no person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism can be regarded as a member of a Scheduled Caste.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and NV Anjaria, upholding an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, said that a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste community loses his SC status immediately and completely upon conversion to another religion.
"No statutory benefit, protection or reservation or entitlement under the Constitution or enactment of Parliament or state legislature can be claimed by or extended to any person who, by operation of clause 3, is not deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Caste.
"This bar is absolute and admits no exception. A person can't simultaneously profess and practice a religion other than the one specified in clause 3 and claim membership of the Scheduled Caste," the bench said.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court on April 30, 2025, 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.
The high court has held that the caste system is alien to Christianity and is consequently barred from invoking the provisions of the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
It quashed charges filed by a complainant who had converted to Christianity and had invoked the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in a criminal case.
Aggrieved by the order, the man, a pastor, moved the apex court challenging the high court decision.
The top court noted that the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, has made it clear that conversion to any religion not specified in Clause 3 of the 1950 order results in immediate loss of Schedule Caste status, regardless of birth, and this bar was "absolute".
"In the present case, it is not the case of the petitioner that he re-converted from Christianity to his original religion or has been accepted back into the folds of the Madiga community.
"On the contrary, the evidence establishes that the appellant continued to profess Christianity and has been functioning as a pastor for more than a decade, conducting regular Sunday prayers at the houses of the village," the court said.
The bench noted that at the time of the alleged incident, he was conducting prayer meetings at the house.
"These concurrent facts leave no room for doubt that he continued to remain a Christian on the date of the occurrence," the bench said on the facts of the case.
The pastor Chinthada Anand had filed a criminal case in 2021 against one Akkala Rami Reddy, invoking various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the SC/ST Act, alleging that a person had assaulted him while he was performing pastoral duties and conducting Sunday prayers in a village in Andhra Pradesh.
He claimed that he was subjected to multiple assaults by Rami Reddy, and he and his family were given death threats and abused in the name of their caste.
#BREAKING No person who professes a religion other than Hinduims, Sikhism or Buddhism shall not be a member of Scheduled caste. Conversion to any other religion results in loss of Scheduled caste status : Supreme Court https://t.co/fcapZvxbmX
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 24, 2026
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Confident about Cong winning bypolls in Karnataka, guarantee schemes helping us: Siddaramaiah
Davangere (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday expressed confidence that Congress candidates will win both the Bagalkot and Davanagere South assembly bypolls in the state by a huge margin, as the government's five guarantee schemes will help the party.
Asserting that Karnataka's economy is in good shape, he accused the BJP of making negative statements for political gain.
The CM is in Davanagere to campaign for Congress candidate Samarth Mallikarjun, after campaigning for Umesh Meti in the Bagalkot segment for the last two days.
Bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies will be held on April 9. The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, respectively.
"I'm confident that we will win in both constituencies by a big margin because of our government's good work. Our guarantee schemes ('Shakti', 'Gruha Lakshmi', 'Gruha Jyoti', 'Yuva Nidhi' and 'Anna Bhagya') are helping us. The BJP opposed guarantee schemes because they are programmes for the poor and they always oppose such initiatives," Siddaramaiah said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said over Rs 1.31 lakh crore has been spent on the guarantee schemes so far.
Noting that there are two types of economic theory -- trickle-down economics and universal basic income -- the CM said, "We believe in universal basic income theory because Basavanna, Ambedkar, Gandhiji, among others, wanted the focus to be on eliminating the sufferings of the last man."
"Through the guarantee schemes, the government is providing benefits to the poor in society -- irrespective of their language, caste or religion -- directly to their bank accounts, without any interference from middlemen," he said, as he rejected the BJP's allegations of corruption in guarantee schemes.
Pointing out that the BJP also claims the treasury is empty because of the guarantee schemes and that the state is being pushed into a debt trap, Siddaramaiah said the state's finances were better managed compared to the central government and most of the states where the saffron party is in power.
Karnataka is number two in the country in GST collection and attracting investments. "Then how is the BJP saying that Karnataka's economic situation is not in good shape? They are making such statements for the sake of politics...Karnataka's economic situation is strong. The BJP is lying," he said.
He also claimed that prices of petrol, diesel and other essentials cost less in Karnataka compared to other neighbouring states in South India.
Karnataka's economy is strong and stable, Siddaramaiah said, as he questioned the Modi government over the falling rupee against the dollar, 'Ache din,' doubling farmers' income, and generating 2 crore jobs every year.
The CM also assured of more funds for Davanagere's development saying, "This is bypolls, not general elections. We will give more funds. We are in power and Congress will be in power for two years."
