The Supreme Court should have also asked "Do caste Hindus stop their
atrocities against Dalits who convert to Christianity?"
-----------------------
*Do Christians also practise caste system, asks SC*
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Do_Christians_also_practise_caste_system_asks_SC/articleshow/2218560.cms
20 Jul 2007, 0000 hrs IST,TNN
NEW DELHI: The campaign of Dalit Christians for Scheduled Caste status
took an interesting turn on Wednesday with a sceptical Supreme Court
responding to their demand by asking whether Christians also practised
caste system.
"Would the Christians admit that they practise caste system and that
Dalits (among them) face social discrimination requiring reservation to
uplift their cause? This is not all that easy," a Bench headed by Chief
Justice K G Balakrishnan said granting eight weeks to the Centre to report
back to court.
Resisting demand for instant recognition, SC's poser can put the Christian
leaders in a quandary. They have been demanding SC status for Dalit
Christians saying that the change of faith does not improve social status,
but may find it difficult to admit that Dalits in the fold faced the same
sort of discrimination as their counterparts in the Hindu community.
Christians claim to be a casteless society. Dalit Christian activists, who
have agitated for Dalit status for long, recently got a shot in arm when
the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission endorsed their case.
Appearing for them, senior counsel Shanti Bhushan cited the Mishra
Commission's report as he argued that the SC category be expanded to
include Dalits who have now embraced Christianity and Islam.
He argued for the scrapping of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order,
1950, restricting reservation benefits to Dalits only among Hindus,
Buddhists and Sikhs.
"It is clear from the commission's report that a mere change in religion
did not bring about a change in their social status," Shanti Bushan
argued. He was supported by senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for
the All India United Christian Movement for Equal Rights.
Jethmalani said the Congress government had brought in a Bill in 1996 with
the objective of giving Dalits equal rights irrespective of the religion
they profess. "It is only politics that has deprived the Dalit Christians
their legitimate due," he added.
The court, however, felt that the matter was best left to the Centre. When
pressed further, it said to adjudicate the issue it would require the
views of Christians and wondered whether they would admit practising the
caste system.
Additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam said the government is
seeking the opinion of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes on the
report of the Mishra Commission and sought time for this purpose. The
existing Scheduled Castes who have watched warily the move to widen the
ambit of the reservation benefits to include Dalits among Christians and
Muslims may derive satisfaction from the court's poser.
They fear that the inclusion of Dalit Christians who have a big edge in
the form of English education may hurt them. When the Bench comprising the
CJI and Justices R V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari agreed to give eight
weeks to the Centre to take necessary opinion and report back to the
court, Bhushan said:"The issue required no more views and the court could
give its finding on it."
The CJI said the legal validity of the provision depriving Dalit
Christians of scheduled caste status could not be determined without data
and it is the government which is in the best position to take a call on
the basis of the report of the Mishra Commission.
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