Indian court denies lower caste legal benefits to Christians

A person converted to Christianity cannot claim to be a member of a lower caste, court says
Updated: May 07, 2025 09:55 AM GMT
An Indian court has denied Christians of Dalit origin legal protections meant for lower caste people, saying a person who converted to Christianity cannot claim to be a member of a lower caste group.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court, the highest court in the southern Indian state, issued the ruling in an appeal challenging criminal proceedings against a group of non-Christians, based on a complaint by a Protestant pastor.
The pastor, who comes from the Dalit community, officially referred to as Scheduled Caste people, filed the complaint in January 2021 against a group of people who allegedly abused him, violating clauses of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.His complaint said that during an altercation, they used his caste name to denigrate and abuse him, a punishable crime under the law, enacted in 1989.
The court’s April 30 ruling dismissed the criminal proceedings, saying a “person converted to Christianity cannot claim to be a member of the Scheduled Caste community”.
“The Christian religion does not recognize any caste classifications. All Christians are treated as equals and there is no distinction between one Christian and another of the type that is recognized between members of different castes belonging to the Hindu religion,” the court said, referring to an earlier Supreme Court ruling in a similar case.
Father Antonyraj Thumma, secretary of the Office for Dialogue and Ecumenism of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said the court ruling is “practically discriminatory and violates the fundamental rights of the pastor.”
Christian leaders like him argue that conversion to Christianity does not automatically alter the socio-economic circumstances of Dalit people, as society continues to treat them as second-class citizens through subtle practices.
Untouchability was outlawed in 1950, but Dalit people, across all religions, continue to face social exclusion, segregation, and even violence in various forms, they say.
However, the government officially does not acknowledge the existence of caste discrimination and socioeconomic poverty within Christianity and Islam.
In 1950, the government reserved social benefits intended for Dalit people exclusively for Dalit Hindus, viewing the caste system as a reality of Hinduism. This order was subsequently amended twice to include Sikhs and Buddhists, thereby recognizing caste practices within these Indian religions.
Christian leaders say that this official government stand should be considered the basis of the court ruling.
The court ruling said the “caste system prevails only amongst Hindus or possibly in some religions closely allied to the Hindu religion like Sikhism.” Christianity is a global religion and “nowhere does Christianity recognize caste division.”
A Dalit person converted to Christianity ceases to be a Dalit, it reiterated.
Christians have opposed this stance. Two decades ago, Christian leaders petitioned India’s Supreme Court to end such discrimination by including Christians of Dalit origin in the state’s affirmative action plans to help improve their social conditions.
When the court sought an explanation, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2022 appointed a three-member panel to study the implications of extending benefits to Christians of Dalit origin.
The panel is yet to report to the government.
Out of India’s 1.4 billion people, 201 million belong to the Dalit community, and nearly 60 percent of India’s 25 million Christians trace their origin to Dalit and tribal communities.