The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has held that a person who has converted to Christianity cannot seek protection under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by claiming Scheduled Caste status.
The ruling came on a petition filed by Ravikumar of Thenkarai in Theni district, who said he belongs to a Hindu Adi Dravidar Scheduled Caste community and works as a physical education teacher in a school. He alleged that the school principal spoke to him in a derogatory manner due to caste discrimination.
He further claimed that, as an act of retaliation, the management transferred him to another school. Seeking action against the school’s office-bearers, he approached the police and asked the court to direct authorities to act on his complaint.
During the hearing, the school management contended that the petitioner had received baptism in a church at Usilampatti in 2015 and has since been following Christianity, and that this fact had been suppressed.
Justice L. Victoria Gowri observed that a person who follows another religion and lives accordingly cannot claim Scheduled Caste status to obtain legal benefits. Citing the constitutional provisions dating back to 1950, the court noted that those professing religions other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism are not treated as Scheduled Castes, and dismissed the petition.
