Supreme Court (Img: Pinterest)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday held that social backwardness cannot be transplanted from the Hindu social order to a non-Hindu social order after conversion, underscoring that caste-linked disadvantage does not automatically carry over to another faith.
The apex court upheld the Madras High Court's decision to strike down a Tamil Nadu government order that allowed persons from Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, denotified communities and Scheduled Castes to be treated as Backward Class Muslims after converting to Islam.
The judgment was delivered by a bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar. Justice Mishra, pronouncing the order on behalf of the bench, said, “A person who converts from a Hindu social order to a non-Hindu social order cannot claim affirmative action under Article 16(4) of the Constitution, merely based on the social backwardness associated with his pre-conversion status.”
The bench said backwardness cannot be carried forward to confer upon a person the status of a backward class in the religion to which they have converted.
In August, the apex court reserved its order on a plea by the Tamil Nadu government challenging a Madras High Court order, which held that a person converting to Islam was not entitled to claim reservation under the Backward Class (Muslim) category solely based on conversion.
Justice Mishra said conversion to a non-Hindu social order does not itself confer membership of any particular notified backward class community. The bench said a person's pre-conversion caste or community status cannot, merely by reason of conversion, be transposed into membership of a distinct notified backward class community in the post-conversion social order.
The bench said social backwardness, which forms the basis of a person's pre-conversion status, cannot by itself become a legal foundation for conferring upon them membership of a distinct notified backward class community in the post-conversion social order.
