The Andhra Pradesh High Court has ruled that once a person converted to Christianity, he/she could not invoke the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Noting that the caste system was alien to Christianity, the single-judge Bench of Justice Harinath N ruled that once a person converted to Christianity, he stopped being a member of the scheduled caste communities.
Since the second respondent voluntarily converted to Christianity and was admittedly working as a Pastor in a Church for the last 10 years as on the date of the incident, he could not be permitted to invoke the provisions of the protective legislation, observed the High Court.
The second respondent ceased to be a member of the Scheduled Caste community the day he converted to Christianity, observed the High Court, adding that the SC/ST Act protection would not be available to a person holding the scheduled caste certificate if they have converted to Christianity.
Mere non-cancellation of the caste certificate by the authority to a person who has converted into Christianity could not instill the protection granted under the Protective Legislation, it added.
The Bench made these observations while quashing the proceedings under the SC/ST Act against a group of people accused of using casteist language and assaulting a man.
It was stated that the man converted to Christianity more than a decade ago and has been working as a pastor for several years.
Police registered the case under Sections of the SC/ST Act and provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The accused argued that since the complainant-pastor eas a Christian, registration of the case under the SC/ST Act was bad in law.
Agreeing with the argument, the Bench held that even the IPC offences were not substantiated.
Noting that a false complaint had been filed in the present case, the Bench ruled that no purpose would be served if the petitioners were relegated to the trial court and to undergo the rigmarole of trial.
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