C. Selvarani Vs Special Secretary- Cum- District Collector 2024 INSC 900 - Religious Conversion - Scheduled Caste Certificate

Constitution of India - Article 25 - Religious Conversion - India is a secular country. Every citizen has a right to practise and profess a religion of their choice as guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution. One converts to a different religion, when he/she is 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 on the other religion, the same cannot be permitted, as the extension of benefits of reservation to people with such ulterior motive will only defeat the social ethos of the policy of reservation- The Court cannot test or gauge the sincerity of religious belief; or where there is no question of the genuineness of a person’s belief in a certain religion, the court cannot measure its depth or determine whether it is an intelligent conviction or ignorant and superficial fancy. But, a Court can find the true intention of men lying behind their acts and can certainly find from the circumstances of a case whether a pretended conversion was really a means to some further end (Para 10) [In this case, the Court found that appellant professes Christianity and actively practices the faith by attending church regularly. Despite the same, she claimed to be a Hindu and seeks for Scheduled Caste community certificate for the purpose of employment, SC observed: Such a dual claim made by her is untenable and she cannot continue to identify herself as a Hindu after baptism. Therefore, the conferment of Scheduled caste communal status to the appellant, who is a Christian by religion, but claims 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]

Constitution of India - Article 341- Constitution (Pondicherry) Scheduled Castes Order, 1964 - Only such castes which have been mentioned in the Schedule appended to the S.C. Order, 1964, shall be deemed to be Scheduled Castes with respect to the Union Territory of Pondicherry; and that, a person, who is professing Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism, shall be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Caste. The Schedule appended to the S.C. Order, 1964, mentions 15 castes, in which, the Valluvan Caste finds place at Sl.No.13 and it is hence, recognized as a Scheduled Caste- The converts to Christianity from Scheduled Caste irrespective of generation of conversion would fall under the OBC category as per G.O. Ms. No. 9/2001-Wel(SW-II), dated 19.02.2001 of the Government of Puducherry and the Central List of OBC’s for Puducherry vide No.12011/14/2004-BCC dated 12.03.2007. (Para 8)