The Supreme Court on Tuesday (26 November) dismissed an appeal by a woman, C Selvarani, who claimed to belong to the Hindu Scheduled Caste (SC) community to avail reservation benefits for a government job, despite the Tamil Nadu government establishing her as a practicing Christian.

The Court upheld a Madras High Court judgment from January 24, which denied a Scheduled Caste certificate to a woman who had converted to Christianity but later identified as Hindu to claim employment benefits.

The Supreme Court declared that religious conversions done solely to claim reservation benefits without genuine faith constitute a constitutional fraud, denying an SC certificate to a Christian woman.

The Supreme Court ruled that religious conversions solely for reservation benefits are unconstitutional. The court upheld a decision denying a scheduled caste certificate to a woman who converted to Christianity but later claimed to be Hindu for job benefits.

Supreme Court rules that religious conversion for quota benefits without genuine belief is a fraud on the Constitution.