Allahabad HC tells Uttar Pradesh to probe converts retaining Scheduled Caste status

Allahabad HC tells Uttar Pradesh to probe converts retaining Scheduled Caste status Newspoint | 2025-12-02 20:40:03

The Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh administration to ensure that members of the Scheduled Castes who have converted to Christianity do not avail benefits meant for the designated groups.

Citing a 2024 Supreme Court order, the bench said on November 21 that persons availing reservations by claiming that they belong to a Scheduled Caste despite having converted amounts to a “fraud on the Constitution”.

The High Court set a four-month deadline for all district magistrates in the state to identify such cases.

The direction by a bench of Justice Praveen Kumar Giri came while dismissing an application filed by a person, Jitendra Sahani, who is accused of making derogatory comments about Hindu deities and promoting communal enmity, to quash the case against him.

The court noted that while the man had stated in his affidavit that he is a Hindu, the additional government advocate had drawn the bench’s attention to a witness’s account that Sahani had converted to Christianity and become a priest.

The order quoted the witness as alleging that Shani had ridiculed Hinduism by claiming it offered no respect because of caste hierarchies, and that converting to Christianity would lead to jobs, business growth and economic benefits from a “missionary”.

The court said that it finds it pertinent...