For more information, contact:
Sam Paul, aicc Secretary of Public Affairs
For immediate release

Court has postponed a verdict in case on rights of Christian and Muslim Dalits
for almost four years

HYDERABAD – Jan. 24, 2008 – On January 23, 2008, a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court of India postponed a decision on lawsuits by Dalit Christians and Muslims for full Constitutional rights. The plaintiffs have asked for Scheduled Caste status. Scheduled Caste status brings special government benefits such as reserved places in educational institutions and government jobs. The central government’s lawyer asked for eight more weeks to refine their recommendations for any change in policy. The justices approved the request.

“Millions of Christian and Muslim Dalits are quite frustrated by yet another delay in the Supreme Court verdict. Comprehensive studies have found that Dalits – even when they embrace another religion – face the stigma of caste. We are becoming worried that politics are triumphing over justice,” said Dr. Joseph D’souza, President of the All India Christian Council (aicc).

Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanian requested more time to study information submitted by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC). The three-judge panel set the next hearing for March 26, 2008 and, interesting, was headed by Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan, who became India’s first Dalit Chief Justice in January 2007.

The NCSC supports the recommendations of the National Commission for Religious & Linguistic Minorities, known as the Misra Commission. In mid-May 2007, the Misra Commission said a clause in a 1950 law should be dropped to delink status from religion. The “Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order”, one of many Presidential Orders given in 1950, only awarded government benefits to Hindus. It was later amended to included Sikhs and Buddhists in 1956 and 1990, respectively. Courts have often considered Sikhism and Buddhism as offshoots of Hinduism. The Commission’s decision was based on a two-year study of the socio-economic and educational condition of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims.

But the NCSC has said any new reservations should not encroach on the existing 15% allotted to Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist Scheduled Castes. A new government policy will be difficult to craft given the current reservations (15% for Dalits, 7.5% for Tribals) and changes already proposed (27% for Other Backward Castes) which total 49.5%. An earlier apex court ruling limited reservations to 50% of available positions in public sector institutions or jobs.

Media reports quoted one judge, seemingly justifying the repeated delays, as saying, “There is no urgency as the Presidential Order of 1950 has been challenged. You have come after more than 54 years.”

The next hearing will be the twelfth time the court looks at the case since it was filed in April 2004. The aicc has given logistical and other support to the main plaintiff. The case on Dalit Christians (Writ Petition Civil No. 180 of 2004) has been combined with two other Dalit Christian cases (Writ Petition Civil No. 625 of 2005, and 94 of 2005) and a Dalit Muslim case (Writ Petition Civil No. 47 of 2006). Thus, a ruling on this case will affect millions across India.

Another solution to the dilemma would be an order from the Executive Branch or legislation passed by the Indian Parliament. While there is no Parliamentary activity, the main plaintiff in the Supreme Court, Mr. Franklin Caesar, told the aicc that he and others are working to influence the Prime Minister. In late August 2007, Ms. Mayawati Naina Kumari, the Dalit Chief Minister of India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to overturn the Presidential Order of 1950.

In December 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was lauded by Dalit leaders as the first Prime Minister in India’s history to openly equate treatment of Dalits with South Africa’s apartheid. However, there is no indication that he will take action.

The All India Christian Council (www.aiccindia.org), birthed in 1998, exists to protect and serve the Christian community, minorities, and the oppressed castes. The aicc is a coalition of thousands of Indian denominations, organizations, and lay leaders.