HC: Religious conversion no ground for inter-caste marriage certificate

Holding that conversion from one religion to another will not change a person’s caste, the Madras High Court dismissed a plea by a Christian man seeking direction over issuance of an inter-caste marriage certificate as he married a Scheduled Caste woman.

Justice SM Subramaniam, on hearing a petition by S Paulraj, a resident of Salem camp in Mettur, said, “In the present case, the petitioner is a Christian Adi-Dravidar, which is also a Schedule Caste community and by virtue of conversion to Christianity, he was issued a Backward Class Certificate. The wife of the petitioner also belongs to the Scheduled Caste community. When both the petitioner and his wife belong to the same community by birth, merely because the petitioner changed his religion, he would not be eligible for an inter-caste marriage certificate,” the judge ruled.

The petitioner had submitted that he converted to Christianity and got a Backward Class certificate. He further stated that he had married G Amutha, who belongs to the SC Arunthathiyar community and therefore, applied for an inter-caste marriage certificate from the Tahsildar, Mettur Taluk. However, the Tahsildar denied issuance of the certificate citing the applicant was also from the SC (Adi Dravida). Therefore, Paulraj moved the HC challenging the Tahsildar’s decision.

C Jayaprakash, the government advocate submitted that the government has issued a clarification that conversion of religion would not entail a person to get an inter-caste marriage certificate. “The government had issued a clarification in 1997. As per the said clarification, change of religion could not be ground to grant inter-caste marriage certificate,” the government advocate argued.