The Supreme Court of India has taken a tough stand on religious conversion only for the purpose of availing reservation benefits offered by any government. In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court has declared that religious conversions carried out solely to obtain reservation benefits, without sincere faith, constitute a ‘fraud on the Constitution’. The verdict, delivered by Justices Pankaj Mithal and R. Mahadevan on November 26, stemmed from a case filed by C. Selvarani.
The Court upheld a Madras High Court judgment from January 24, which denied a Scheduled Caste certificate to a woman who had converted to Christianity but later identified as Hindu to claim employment benefits. Justice Mahadevan, who wrote the 21-page verdict for the bench, further underscored that one converted to a different religion when they were genuinely inspired by its principles, tenets and spiritual thoughts.
“However, if the purpose of conversion is largely to derive the benefits of reservation but not with any actual belief in the other religion, the same cannot be permitted, as the extension of benefits of reservation to people with such ulterior motives will only defeat the social ethos of the policy of reservation,” he noted.
The top court noted that the evidence clearly shows the appellant professed Christianity and actively practised the faith by attending church regularly. “Despite the same, she claims to be a Hindu and seeks for an SC community certificate for the purpose of employment….Such a dual claim made by her,” said the bench “was untenable and she cannot continue to identify herself as a Hindu after baptism”, it said.
According to the news agency PTI, the top court, therefore, held the conferment of scheduled caste communal status to the woman, who was a Christian by faith, but claimed to be still embracing Hinduism only for the purpose of availing reservation in employment, “would go against the very object of reservation and would amount to fraud on the Constitution”.
The top court underlined a religious conversion solely to access reservation benefits, without genuine belief in the adopted religion, undermined the fundamental social objectives of the quota policy and her actions were contrary to the spirit of reservation policies aimed at uplifting the marginalised communities.
