A convert to Islam cannot claim the status of Backward Class Muslim, rules Madras High Court

A convert to Islam cannot claim the status of Backward Class Muslim. He is only a Muslim and that’s all there is to it, Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ruled while declaring unconstitutional, a 2024 G.O. allowing converts to claim such status.

The court was hearing the petition filed in 2022 by a man from Thoothukudi district who had embraced Islam and changed his name. He was born to Hindu parents. The certificate issued by the Sunnath Jamath, Kayathar, in 2015 stated the petitioner had embraced Islam.

He had applied for a community certificate certifying him as ‘Muslim Lebbai’, a faith, he claimed to follow. However, the Kayathar Tahsildar rejected his application. Challenging it, he moved the court.

Meanwhile, a G.O. issued in 2024 ordered that a convert to Islam from Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, Denotified Communities or Scheduled Castes may be treated as BC (Muslim) for availing the benefit of reservation and on such conversion, (s)he may be issued with community certificate as belonging to one of the notified seven sects.

However, the State said, a convert from a forward community to Islam would not get the BC (Muslim) tag. Only those who already enjoyed the benefit of reservation in their original religion would not lose it on account of conversion to Islam. Social balance will not be affected, it was submitted.

A Division Bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and P.B. Balaji said as early as in 1951, the Madras High Court held that when a Hindu gets converted to Islam, he becomes just a Mussalman and his place in Muslim society is not determined by the caste to which he belonged before his conversion. It was further held that a member of one of the castes or sub-castes when he is converted to Islam ceases to be a member of any caste. The decision was approved by the Supreme Court.

The court said Christian missionaries as well as Islamic preachers harangued through decades and centuries that their religions offer social equality unlike Hinduism which has caste as its inherent feature. “Having taken such a stand for effecting conversions, it is disingenuous to claim that there is hierarchy in Islam also. In our respectful view, categorising certain sects as Backward and the remaining as Forward is antithetical to Quranic injunctions. Islam seeks to establish an egalitarian society. Everyone is equal in the eye of God. There is no social hierarchy,” the court said.

“Be that as it may, due to historical reasons, the Islamic society is also stratified into various communities. One can even boldly remark that they are akin to caste in Hinduism. Just as caste is determined by birth, one is a Rowther or Marakkayar or Deccani Muslim by birth alone. It is ridiculous to suggest that one can be converted into a Rowther Muslim,” the judges said.

The order said as held by the Division Bench of the Madras High Court more than 75 years ago, upon conversion to Islam, one becomes a Muslim. The Division Bench used the expression ‘just a Mussalman’. He cannot be pigeonholed into any particular sect or community which can be only by virtue of one’s birth therein. When the proposition laid down by the Division Bench is holding the field, it cannot be undone by issuing a mere government order.

“The doctrine of separation of powers is an entrenched principle in the Constitution and that it is an essential constituent of rule of law. This principle applies to the final judgments of the courts. The legislature cannot declare any decision of a court of law to be void or of no effect,” the court said.

Against this backdrop, it is not open to the State government to issue a G.O. undermining the decision.

“That is exactly what the government has done by recognising that there can be conversion to any one of the seven sects of Muslims identified as Backward Class Muslim. The sheer arbitrariness of the impugned G.O. becomes manifest for one more reason. The Backward Classes Commission’s recommendation as well as the G.O. provide for accommodating BC/MBC/DNC/SC convertees in any one of the seven slots. A SC who is at the bottom-most rung of the social ladder is put on par with a BC. The Supreme Court in a catena of decisions has held that OBCs and SCs form separate categories,” the court said.

Just for the sake of ensuring the converts to Islam continue to enjoy some form of reservation benefit, such a bunching has been done by the State government. This exposes the inherent flaw in the approach adopted by the government, the court said.

“We have no option but to conclude that only to undo the judgments of the court, has the government come out with an innovation that is not only unconstitutional but also un-Islamic. Once we find that the G.O is illegal, it is our bounden judicial duty to declare it to be so. We accordingly declare that the G.O is unconstitutional,” the judges said and disposed of the petition.