The Supreme Court has refused to revisit its ruling that a person loses Scheduled Caste status after converting to a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism.
A Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan dismissed a review petition challenging the Court’s March 2026 judgment, finding no apparent error in the earlier decision. The Bench also rejected a request for an oral hearing.
“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 Court said.
The March judgment had held that conversion to Christianity or any religion outside the three recognised faiths results in the immediate loss of Scheduled Caste status.
The Court, however, said that status could potentially be restored after reconversion, subject to three requirements. The person must prove that they were originally born into a caste recognised as Scheduled Caste, demonstrate a genuine return to Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism along with complete abandonment of the religion previously adopted, and show that the original caste community has accepted them back.
The Court made clear that failure to satisfy even one of these conditions would be enough to defeat a claim for restoration of Scheduled Caste status.
The dispute originated in Andhra Pradesh, where a man born into a Scheduled Caste community later converted to Christianity and worked as a pastor. He had lodged a complaint under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, alleging that he had been insulted by reference to his caste name and threatened.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court later quashed the FIR, holding that the complainant’s conversion to Christianity meant he could no longer legally claim Scheduled Caste status. The matter then reached the Supreme Court.
In its March ruling, the Supreme Court upheld that decision and held that a person professing Christianity cannot claim protection under the SC/ST Act on the basis of Scheduled Caste status, which is legally limited to members of the recognised religious categories.
The dismissal of the review petition leaves the March judgment intact and confirms that the Court sees no basis to alter its position on the effect of religious conversion on Scheduled Caste status.
