The Supreme Court of India conducted a hearing yesterday on a case to remove a legal loophole that limits the civil rights of India's Dalit Christians and Muslims.
The case, which was filed in 2004 by India's Center for Public Interest Litigation, challenges the practice of excluding Christians and Muslims from the reservation system for college enrollment and government jobs.
The reservation system sets aside a certain number of college enrollment slots and government jobs for the country's 300 million Dalits and 400 million others who are classified as "Other Backward Castes". They are also known socially as the “Untouchables”.
The delay in reaching a verdict in the case has led to the suspension of a government programme which reserves spots for low-caste students in the country's medical, engineering and professional schools.
The two judges who made the decision to suspend that programme in March said it could not be implemented until the full court could agree on its legality, in light of the case involving the reservation system. The judges also questioned the India Government's decision to base the number of reserved slots on the 1931 Indian Census - the last one that included caste as a category.
Gospel for Asia leader Simon John in New Delhi, India, says this latest action could cause a setback to the entire case.
"Many feel the ruling, though based on a seemingly justified proposition that no current data exists, will hinder the inclusion of Other Backward Castes," he said.
The disparities date back 57 years to when the Indian Government created the reservation programmes. At that time, the government declared the reservations applied only to Hindu Dalits, since the caste system was related to the Hindu religion. Christians and Muslims do not receive the special provisions and are therefore excluded from many opportunities to climb out of poverty. Dalits who become Christians lose their rights under the reservation system.
