NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court recently dismissed a review petition against its March 2026 judgment holding that scheduled caste (SC) status is lost when a person converts to a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism.
A Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan said it had examined the review petition and found no ground to interfere with its earlier judgment.
“We have gone through the Review Petition and perused the judgment dated 24.03.2026 which has been sought to be reviewed. There is no error apparent on the record,” the Bench said.
It also rejected the petitioner’s application seeking an oral hearing.
The March 2026 judgment had clarified that a person who converts to Christianity or any other religion apart from Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism immediately loses scheduled caste status.
However, it held that such a person may reclaim scheduled caste status upon reconversion, provided three conditions are fulfilled.
The Court had laid down the following conditions:
The person must establish that they were originally born into a caste recognised as a Scheduled Caste;
They must prove genuine reconversion to Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism and complete renunciation of the religion previously adopted; and
They must establish that members of their original caste community have accepted them back.
The Court had made it clear that failure to establish even one of these conditions would render the claim unsustainable.
The case arose after a man from Andhra Pradesh, who was born into a scheduled caste but had later converted to Christianity and was working as a pastor, lodged an FIR under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act alleging that he had been abused by his caste name and threatened.
The accused approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which quashed the FIR after holding that the complainant, having converted to Christianity, could not claim scheduled caste status in law.
In its March judgment, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s decision, holding that a person professing Christianity cannot claim protection under the SC/ST Act because scheduled caste status is recognised only for persons professing Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism.
At the same time, the Court clarified that a person who later reconverts to one of these three religions may reclaim scheduled caste status, but only after satisfying the three conditions laid down in the judgment.
