Allahabad High Court recently asked the Uttar Pradesh government to crack down on people who have converted to Christianity but continue to avail benefits meant for Scheduled Castes (SC).
A Bench of Justice Praveen Kumar Giri in its order passed on November 21 cited an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which said that caste-based discrimination does not exist within the Christian faith, and therefore the basis for Scheduled Caste classification stands nullified upon conversion, irrespective of the existence of any previously issued caste certificate.
The Bench also cited a Supreme Court order which observed that claiming caste-based benefits merely for the purpose of availing reservation after conversion amounts to a “fraud on the Constitution.”
The court dismissed the plea filed by Jitendra Sahani who has been accused of promoting enmity between two religions and outraging the religious feelings of a particular community. In his plea, Mr. Sahani stated that he merely sought permission to organise a gathering on his own land to “preach the words of Jesus Christ” but police falsely implicated him in the case.
The police, however, told the court that the applicant, who belonged to the Kewat community, had stated his religion to be Hinduism in his affidavit but had actually converted to Christianity. One of the witnesses, quoted by the police in the chargesheet, submitted that Mr. Sahani used to allure poor people to convert to Christianity. The witness further alleged that the accused used filthy, abusive and absurd language about Hindu deities.
