Religious Conversion for Quota Benefits Deemed Fraudulent: Supreme Court Verdict

Sub: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Why in News

The Supreme Court of India recently delivered a landmark judgment, asserting that religious conversion done solely to secure reservation benefits constitutes a fraud on the Constitution. The judgment highlights the sanctity of the reservation policy and condemns its misuse for ulterior motives.

Background:

A woman from Puducherry, originally a Christian by birth, sought a Scheduled Caste (SC) community certificate after allegedly converting to Hinduism. She claimed this status to secure employment under the SC reservation quota.
Evidence showed her parents’ marriage was registered under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872. Records indicated she had been baptized and regularly attended church services, contradicting her claim of conversion to Hinduism.
Supreme Court: Conversion must be based on genuine belief in the tenets and principles of a religion, not driven by ulterior motives like securing reservations.

Article 25 of Indian Constitution:

Article 25 says that all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice, and propagate religion. The implications of these are:
Freedom of conscience: Inner freedom of an individual to mould his relationship with God or Creatures in whatever way he desires.
Right to profess: Declaration of one’s religious beliefs and faith openly and freely.
Right to practice: Performance of religious worship, rituals, ceremonies, and exhibition of beliefs and ideas.
Right to propagate: Transmission and dissemination of one’s religious beliefs to others or exposition of the tenets of one’s religion. But it does not include the right to convert another person to one’s own religion. Forcible conversions impinge on the ‘freedom of conscience’ guaranteed to all the persons alike.
Thus, Article 25 covers not only religious beliefs (doctrines) but also religious practices (rituals).
Moreover, these rights are available to all persons–citizens as well as non-citizens.
However, these rights are subject to public order, morality, health, and other provisions relating to fundamental rights.

About Arya Samaj:

The Arya Samaj Movement, revivalist in form though not in content, was the result of a reaction to Western influences.
Its founder, Dayananda Saraswati or Mulshankar (1824-1883) was born in the old Morvi state in Gujarat in a brahmin family.
The first Arya Samaj unit was formally set up by him at Bombay in 1875 and later the headquarters of the Samaj were established at Lahore.
Dayananda’s views were published in his famous work, Satyarth Prakash (The True Exposition). His vision of India included a classless and casteless society, a united India (religiously, socially and nationally), and an India free from foreign rule, with Aryan religion being the common religion of all.
He took inspiration from the Vedas and considered them to be ‘India’s Rock of Ages’, the infallible and the true original seed of Hinduism. He gave the slogan “Back to the Vedas”.
Dayananda launched a frontal attack on Hindu orthodoxy, caste rigidities, untouchability, idolatry, polytheism, belief in magic, charms and animal sacrifices, taboo on sea voyages, feeding the dead through shraddhas, etc.
Dayananda subscribed to the Vedic notion of chaturvarna system in which a person was not born in any caste but was identified as a brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya or shudra according to the occupation the person followed.