‘Defeats social ethos of reservation’: Supreme Court upholds Madras HC decision on religious conversion | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ruled that religious conversions undertaken solely to avail reservation benefits without genuine faith amount to ‘fraud of the Constitution’. The judgment, delivered by a bench comprising Justices Pankaj Mithal and R. Mahadevan, upheld a Judgment of the Madras High Court denying a Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate to a woman who converted to Christianity but later claimed to be a Hindu in order to avail quota benefits to secure employment.
The case was filed by C. Selvarani, born to a Hindu father and a Christian mother, and baptized as a Christian shortly after birth. Selvarani applied for a post as an upper division clerk in Puducherry in 2015, seeking an SC certificate based on her father’s Valluvan caste, which is classified under scheduled castes.
However, evidence presented to the court showed that she regularly practiced Christianity and attended church services, sabotaging her claim to identify as Hindu.

Conversion for benefits ‘undermines reservation policy’

Justice Mahadevan, who wrote the 21-page judgment for the court, pointed out that conversion to a religion must be inspired by its principles and teachings.
“However, if the purpose of conversion is largely to obtain the benefits of reservation but not with any actual belief in the other religion, the same cannot be permitted because the extension of the benefits of reservation to people with such ulterior motives only serves to will gain victory over the other religion. social ethos of the reservation policy,” he noted.
The Supreme Court emphasized that persons who convert to Christianity lose their caste identity and must provide substantial evidence of reconversion and acceptance by their original caste community to regain SC status. In Selvarani’s case, the bench found no credible evidence of return to Hinduism, such as public statements, ceremonies or documentation. On the contrary, her continued adherence to Christian practices invalidated her claim.

‘Fraud with the Constitution’

The court held that Selvarani’s claim to identify as Hindu solely to access SC reservation benefits while she was actively practicing Christianity was untenable. The court held that granting her SC status would be contrary to the spirit of the reservation policy aimed at uplifting marginalized communities and would be “contrary to the very purpose of reservation and would amount to fraud on the Constitution “.
“One converts to another religion when he is sincerely inspired by its principles. Conversion purely for reservation benefits, without faith, is inadmissible,” the bench added.
The apex court also rejected Selvarani’s argument that her caste identity was merely in shadow during her conversion to Christianity and would automatically resume upon a return to Hinduism.
The judgment noted that such a resumption would require clear and verifiable evidence of reconversion, which was lacking in her case.
“Since the fact of the reconversion is disputed, there must be more than a mere claim. The conversion had not taken place through a ceremony or through ‘Arya Samaj’. No public statement was made. “There is nothing on record to show that she or her family has re-converted to Hinduism and on the contrary, it has in fact been established that the appellant continues to practice Christianity,” the report said.