Muslims or Christians are not eligible to contest the election from a constituency reserved for SCs, ruled Haryana High Court.
As per reports in ET, the court has restricted the eligibility to Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs and if Muslims and Christians want to contest then embrace Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism.
They have to prove that their forefathers originally belonged to a SC and had (forefathers) professed to any of the three aforesaid religions.
The historic decree, the first on the issue of conversion by any court in India, could spark off a debate on the larger issue of reservation in education and jobs for Muslims and Christians.
Justice NK Sanghi delivering the judgment held that “the conversion from one religion to another would dis-entitle the person to carry his caste with him after conversion”.
The Haryana court relied upon pertinent clause of the Constitution to hold that Muslims and Christians cannot obtain any benefit meant for the SCs.
The judgement was passed on a petition filed by former principal secretary of Punjab, Darbara Singh Guru, who lost to popular Punjabi folk singer and Congress MLA Mohammad Sadique.
Justice Sanghi had put the election of Sadique to one side, who had defeated Guru in 2012 elections while contesting from Bhadaur, a SC seat.