A top court in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has ruled that a Dalit Hindu woman marrying a Christian or displaying religious symbols such as the cross cannot be cited as reasons to revoke her scheduled caste (SC) community certification. The Madurai bench of Madras High Court held that hanging the cross on a wall or going to church does not necessarily mean one has altogether abandoned the original faith to which one was born and cannot be the basis for cancelling an SC certificate.
The bench was hearing the case of Dr. P. Muneeswari, who belongs to the Hindu Pallan community. Her SC certificate was cancelled by district officials in Ramana-thapuram in 2013 on grounds that she was married to a Christian man and their child-ren were also being brought up in the Christian faith. The officials had reached the decision after finding a cross hanging on the wall of her clinic and concluded that she had converted to Christianity and hence was not liable to continue as a member of her Hindu SC community.
Members of the Hindu Dalit or former untouchable communities in India are often discriminated against under the centuries-old caste system. In legal and constitutional terms, they are now listed as scheduled castes enabling them to access the government’s affirmative action policies and programs.
Dalits who converted to Christianity and Islam are excluded from India’s affirmative action plan that includes reservations in educational institutions and government jobs among other social welfare schemes.