Social Backwardness Doesn't Carry Over After Religious Conversion, Rules Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of India on Thursday ruled that social backwardness associated with a person’s original religious and caste identity cannot automatically be carried over to another religious community following conversion.

A bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar dismissed a special leave petition by the Tamil Nadu government. The plea challenged a Madras High Court judgment that struck down a 2024 government notification granting automatic Backward Class (Muslim) status to Hindu converts to Islam.

The apex court observed that conversion to a non-Hindu faith severs the legal foundation of caste-tied benefits. "No statutory benefit, protection, reservation or other entitlement under Article 16(4)... can be claimed merely on the basis of antecedent membership after a person has converted to Islam, Christianity or any other non-Hindu social order," the bench stated.

The court re-emphasised that under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, Scheduled Caste status is legally confined to individuals professing Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism.

Furthermore, the bench noted that subsequent reconversion to Hinduism would not automatically restore a person's pre-conversion backward status without an independent, fact-specific assessment.

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