High court in Uttar Pradesh has ordered officials across the state to block Christians of Dalit background from accessing government benefits reserved for Scheduled Castes, claiming that allowing converted Christians to continue using these provisions amounts to “constitutional fraud.”
The directive, issued by the Allahabad High Court on 21 November and released publicly on 2 December, instructs district magistrates to ensure that anyone who has embraced Christianity is no longer treated as eligible for caste-based concessions. Under Indian law, Scheduled Caste status (and the educational, employment and political reservations that come with it) applies only to Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists. The court reaffirmed that Christians and Muslims are excluded because their faiths are viewed as lying outside the caste system.
The ruling was delivered while the court considered a petition from Jitendra Sahani, who had asked judges to dismiss a police case accusing him of stirring religious tension. State lawyers told the bench that Sahani, a member of a Dalit community by birth, was now working as a Christian preacher and held prayer meetings that encouraged conversion. The court declined to grant him relief and directed the district administration to verify his religious status within three months. If officials find that he submitted false information in order to claim Scheduled Caste benefits, they have been told to take appropriate action.
Judges also instructed authorities across Uttar Pradesh to identify any other individuals who may have continued to receive caste-linked entitlements after becoming Christian, and to report their findings to the state’s chief secretary. The order has also been forwarded to senior federal officials.
Christian leaders in the state criticised the decision, warning that it adds to an already hostile climate. Pastor Joy Mathew said that people who convert do so sincerely and do not attempt to keep a dual identity, but that Christians in Uttar Pradesh face routine pressure from hardline groups. Rights monitors say nearly 80 Christians, including pastors, are currently imprisoned under the state’s anti-conversion law. The United Christian Forum has documented 209 incidents of alleged persecution in Uttar Pradesh this year, the highest number recorded in any Indian state.
Christians form less than one percent of the state’s population of over 200 million. Dalit Christians have challenged their exclusion from Scheduled Caste protections for decades, and a petition seeking equal treatment remains pending before the country's Supreme Court.
Adapted from UCA News.
