Centre rejects ‘myopic’ Rangnath Misra report that favoured Scheduled Caste status for Dalit converts

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, December 7

The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it has not accepted the Justice Rangnath Misra Commission report (2007) that favoured extending the benefit of reservation to Dalits who converted to Islam and Christianity, saying it was written within the four walls of a room without any field studies.

During hearing on petitions seeking Scheduled Caste status for Dalits who have converted to Christianity and Islam, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the top court that the Centre has appointed a new commission headed by former CJI KG Balakrishnan to examine if Scheduled Caste status can be given to those members of SC community who have converted to Christianity or Islam.

A Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said it will first decide if it should wait for the report of the newly-appointed Justice KG Balakrishnan Commission report on the issue or proceed on the basis of material already on record.

“The first aspect to be dealt with is whether this Court should stay its hands till the report of this Commission comes or whether it should proceed on the basis the material on record", it said, posting the matter for further hearing in January 2023.

Maintaining that untouchability was not prevalent in the Christian and Islamic societies, the Centre has opposed before the Supreme Court petitions seeking seeks Scheduled Caste status for Dalits who have converted to Christianity and Islam.

The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 says that no person professing a religion other than Hinduism or Sikhism, or Buddhism can be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.

However, Muslim and Christian groups have been demanding similar status for Dalits who have converted to Christianity or Islam, saying the restriction went against their fundamental right to equality, religious freedom, and non-discrimination. They contended that the change in religion did not change social exclusion and caste hierarchy continues to hold fort within Christianity even though the religion forbids it.

In an affidavit filed in the top court last month, the Centre submitted, “The Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950 was based on historical data which clearly established that no such backwardness or oppression was ever faced by members of Christian or Islamic Society,”

“In fact, one of the reasons for which people from Scheduled Castes have been converting to religions like Islam or Christianity is so that they can come out of the oppressive system of untouchability which is not prevalent at all in Christianity or Islam,” the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment affidavit said.

It faulted the Justice Misra Commission for favouring SC status for Dalits converted to Christianity and Islam, terming it flawed as it was not based on field studies and can’t be corroborated with the situation on the ground.

The Centre said the Justice Misra Commission took a myopic view of social environment in India and failed to take into account the effect that the inclusion would have on the present castes listed as SCs.

The Centre asserted that "the object of the reservations and identification of Scheduled Castes is over and beyond the 'social and economic backwardness'… the identification of Scheduled Castes is centered around a specific social stigma [and the connected backwardness with such stigma] that is limited to the communities identified in the Constitution [Scheduled Castes] Order, 1950."

It said the nature of conversions to Buddhism has been different from that of conversions to Christianity. Scheduled Castes converts to Buddhism embraced Buddhism voluntarily at the call of Dr Ambedkar in 1956 on account of some innate socio-political imperatives. The original castes/ community of such converts can clearly be determined. This cannot be said in respect of Christians and Muslims who might have converted on account of other factors, since the process of such conversions has taken place over the centuries".

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