Application filed in Supreme Court by Christian Opposing Granting Dalit Status to Christian community

An Intervention application has been filed at Supreme Court of India in a Writ Petition (Centre for Public Interest Litigation V Union of India, WP (Civil) No: 180 of 2004) seeking grant of Dalit Status to Dalit Hindu Converts to Christianity.

The Intervention application has been filed by a Christian, Mrs. Joanna D’Costa, who is opposing granting of Dalit Status to Christians. The application states that granting of Dalit status to Christians would permanently and irreversibly damage the core religious beliefs of the Christian community since as per the Holy Bible, Galtians 3:28, Romans 10:12, Colossians 3:9-11, Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11, all human beings are equal and nobody can be treated differently. In a nutshell, the Christian religious doctrine specifically prohibits discrimination and does not recognize any caste system as all believers of Christianity are equal children of God. Equality is the salient principle espoused in Christianity. The Intervention application specifically states that the recognition of a section of Christian population as Dalit or Scheduled Caste would lead to effectively dividing the Christian community in 2 sections – General category Christians and the so called ‘Dalit Christians’ in total disregard of explicit verses of the Holy Bible. Furthermore, ‘caste’ as a concept is intrinsically linked with the Varna system mentioned only in the Hindu religious doctrine and extension of the same to Christianity would be akin to meddling into the affairs of Christianity.An Intervention application has been filed at Supreme Court of India in a Writ Petition (Centre for Public Interest Litigation V Union of India, WP (Civil) No: 180 of 2004) seeking grant of Dalit Status to Dalit Hindu Converts to Christianity.

The aforementioned application has been drawn by Supreme Court Counsel, Mr. Aditya Bharat Manubarwala, LL.M, University of Cambridge and Tanishka Grover, and Akriti A Manubarwala, Advocates. It has been filed by Bharat T Manubarwala, AOR and Settled by Sandeep Bharat Manubarwala, Advocate.