Uttar Pradesh, converts to Christianity excluded from benefits for disadvantaged castes
The Allahabad High Court has ordered the Indian state to revoke the benefit within four months. Addressing the case of a Christian, the judges ruled that maintaining the status would be ‘fraud against the Constitution’. Bishop of Berhampur: but the social and economic backwardness of Dalits persists even after conversion.
Allahabad (AsiaNews) - The Allahabad High Court has issued a directive to the Uttar Pradesh administration to ensure that people who have converted to Christianity do not continue to enjoy the benefits intended for disadvantaged castes (Scheduled castes).
The measure appears to be highly discriminatory towards the Christian minority, despite the High Court's claim that maintaining this status after conversion would amount to ‘fraud against the Constitution’.
The Court has set a strict four-month deadline for all district magistrates in the state to act in accordance with the law to identify and prevent such cases. Provisions of the ‘Constitutional (Scheduled Castes) Act, 1950’ were cited, under which it was established that no person belonging to a community other than Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist can be considered a member of a caste. .
Judge Praveen Kumar Giri issued the order rejecting a request filed by Jitendra Sahani, a Christian accused of mocking Hindu deities and inciting enmity. Sahani had filed a petition to quash the charge, claiming that he had sought permission from the relevant authorities to preach the ‘words of Jesus Christ’ on his own land and that he had been falsely implicated.
The court, in an order dated 21 November, dismissed the petition as unfounded. However, during the hearing, while examining the affidavit filed in support of the petitioner's request, the court noted that he had indicated his religion as “Hindu”, even though he had converted to Christianity. At this point, the court was informed that the petitioner was a member of the disadvantaged caste community prior to his conversion.
The court asked the district magistrate of Maharajganj to investigate the applicant's religion within three months and to take legal action against him if he was found guilty of falsehood. The court also asked the Uttar Pradesh government to examine the matter and take legal action or issue orders requiring the authorities to ‘enforce the law in reality’.
Chandra Nayak, bishop of Berhampur and president of the Office for Recognised Castes and Disadvantaged Classes (the so-called ‘Dalit Commission’) of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), commented to AsiaNews that both the Ranganath Misra Commission and the Sachar Commission have already observed that the social and economic situation of Dalit Christians has not changed, even after conversion. Their social and economic backwardness persists and they continue to suffer significant discrimination based on the caste system.
As early as 2007, a report by the Misra Commission recommended that Dalits who had converted to Christianity and Islam should be allowed access to the benefits reserved for recognised castes, based on the principle of separating caste status from religion. Currently, it is estimated that between 50 and 75 per cent of Indian Christians are Dalits, but this figure is not officially recognised in government data. A 2008 report by the National Commission for Minorities estimated the number of Dalit Christians at 2.4 million, but many experts believe the number is much higher.
.png)
