Cross, Jesus statue at home not proof of conversion, rules high court

NAGPUR: The presence of a cross or pictures and statues of Jesus Christ at someone's house cannot be treated as proof that the person converted to Christianity or abandoned his or her Hindu identity, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court has said.

A division bench comprising Justices Mukulika Jawalkar and Nandesh Deshpande recently ruled that conversion cannot be inferred merely from religious symbols in a household, and concrete documentary evidence is a must to back such claims.

The HC was hearing a petition filed by an Akola-based college student, challenging rejection of his application for a scheduled caste certificate. The Akola Caste Scrutiny Committee had concluded that the student's forefathers had converted to Christianity and, so, he was not entitled to an SC certificate.

Conversion claim must be backed by documents: HC

The authorities had relied on the presence of a cross and images of Christ in the applicant’s house, along with a school record from 1962 that described the family as Christian, to justify their decision. “Any allegation of conversion must be supported by documentation of baptism rituals or a baptism certificate,” the bench said.

It said the scrutiny committee must examine whether formal conversion rituals took place. The petitioner said his family never formally converted. His grandfather described himself as a Christian in school records only to avoid caste discrimination, but no religious conversion took place, he added.

The petitioner also relied on several official records to back his claim, including school and govt documents and caste validity certificate issued to a relative. After examining the material, HC found the reasoning adopted by district authorities unsustainable.

Describing the decision of the Akola Caste Scrutiny Committee as “patently erroneous” and “perverse”, the court set aside the order. It then directed the authorities to issue an SC certificate to the petitioner.

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