Caste Beyond Religion: The Case For a Secular Provision of the SC Status |
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In Chinthada Anand vs. State of Andhra Pradesh (March 26, 2026), a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court reaffirmed that only those professing Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism qualify for inclusion in the Scheduled Castes (SCs). This ruling appears to overlook the persistence of caste-based discrimination in a deeply stratified society where such inequalities cut across religious boundaries.
As India moves towards conducting its first caste census since independence, people belonging to Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities continue to struggle for inclusion within the SC category. This exclusion limits their access to several socio-economic benefits under SC-based affirmative action policies.
This article draws on empirical evidence to demonstrate that caste-based stratification exists among Muslims and Christians, much as it does in Indic religions, and argues for extending the principles of social justice to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians.
Constitutional guarantee and its limitations
At its inception, the constitution of India provided safeguards to historically oppressed communities. SC status, initially limited to people from Dalit Hindu communities, was subsequently expanded to include Sikh and Neo-Buddhist Dalit people. However, people belonging to Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities remain constitutionally excluded.
Article 341 imposes a religious restriction on entry into the SC list by prohibiting the inclusion of Dalit people belonging to Abrahamic religions. Notably, no such restriction applies to other constitutionally recognised social categories: the Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) are all secular in their scope.
In 2022, the central government appointed a three-member commission, headed by former Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan, to examine the exclusion of Dalit Christian and Muslim converts from the SC status. Its report is yet to submitted.
In 2007, the Ranganath Mishra Commission, also known as the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, had explicitly concluded that the non-inclusion of people from Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities in the Scheduled Castes list amounts to discrimination on the basis of religion.
Although the Sachar Committee report (2006) highlights the broader socio-economic deprivation of Muslims as a whole, it also points to the comparatively worse conditions of Pasmanda Muslims within the community.
Shireen Azam, in their article “Scheduled Caste Status for Dalit Muslims and Christians: A Comprehensive Clarification,” argues that the exclusion of Dalit Muslim castes from the SC list is largely a consequence of Ashraf dominance in Muslim political representation, with upper-caste representatives showing little interest in addressing the conditions of lower-caste Muslims. Unlike Sikh representatives, who actively advocated for the inclusion of Dalit Sikh communities in the SC list.
Also read: Explainer: What the Law Says on ‘Scheduled Caste’ Status of Christians........