No SC Reservations For Christian Or Muslim Dalits: Law Minister

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Rajya Sabha informed everyone of the religious conversions within the Dalit community. In his statement, he said that if Dalits choose to convert themselves to Christanity or Islam, they shall not be eligible to contest parliamentary or assembly elections from the reserved constituencies. He said that such candidates won’t be eligible to claim other reservation benefits as well.

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However, if anyone from the Dalit community adopts Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist religion/faith they would be eligible to contest the elections from the Scheduled Caste reserved communities. They would also be eligible to enjoy the other reservation benefits as well.

As he spoke about the eligibility to contest the elections from reserved constituencies, he said that the Para 3 of the Constitution mentions that any person from any other religion apart from Hindu, Buddhism, and Skkh shall be seens as a member of the Scheduled Caste.

At the same time, he also said there is no proposal to make amendments to the act and allow Dalits converting to Islam or Christianity to contest elections. Prasad with his

Supreme Court Takes In Christian Dalit’s Plea

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of India decided to examine the plea of Dalit Christians to give them the same benefits as any other scheduled caste. As per reports, a bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice B.R Gavai, and Justice Surya Kant agreed to issue a notice to the central government departments.

The bench decided to send notices to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, the National Commission for Minorities and the Registrate General of India regarding the scheduled castes community.

The plea was made by the Dalit Christian comminities requesting the courts to make the Schedules Castes community “religion neutral”. This means that people from the scheduled castes backgrounds should continue to enjoy the benefits of the reservations irrespective of their religion.

The plea stated that the para 3 of the constitution restricts their fundamental right to equality, religious freedom, and non-discrimination. The plea was filed by the National Council of Dalit Christians who wanted a scheduled caste status for Dalit Christians as well. It further said that just because someone changed their religion does not mean that it prevents them from being socially excluded because of their scheduled castes origins.

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Back in 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that a person who was born as a Hindu and then converted to Christianity is not eligible for protection. In the statement, the court said that after converting to Christianity, the social and economic disabilities a person faces because of the Hindu religion, cease and hence they don’t require protection for being scheduled caste.