Madras HC says converts to Islam cannot claim backward class Muslim status

New Delhi: Madras High Court ruled that 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," a division bench of justices GR Swaminathan and PB Balaji said in an order on Thursday. It declared as "unconstitutional" a 2024 order by the then DMK government of Tamil Nadu, granting reservation benefits in cases of conversion.

The court slammed the Tamil Nadu government for resorting to "innovation" to undo a judgement of the Madras High Court rendered in 1951. Disapproving of the "sheer arbitrariness" of the state government, the bench ruled: "We have no option but to conclude that only to undo the judgements of this court has the government come out with an innovation that is not only unconstitutional but also un-Islamic."


"When the division bench of the Madras High Court had held (in 1951) that a convert to Islam becomes just a Mussalman, it is not open to the state government to issue a government order undermining the said 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," read the judgement.

It added: "Though our Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sects, place of birth or any of them, the state was authorised to make special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the scheduled castes or the scheduled tribes."

"Reservation policies are in furtherance of the aforesaid constitutional mandate. Since on the only ground of religion, one cannot be conferred with the benefit of reservation," 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," the court observed.

"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. 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," the court said.

The judgement added: "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. 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 order was passed on a plea filed by Sameer Ahamed, formerly Paramasivam. Born to a Hindu couple in Thoothukudi district, he embraced Islam in 2015, changed his name and married as per the adopted religion.

In terms of the March 2024 government order, he applied for a community certificate that categorised him as 'Muslim Lebbai', one of seven sects of backward class Muslims listed in the state government order. However, this application was rejected following which he moved the high court where he quoted the government order to back his case.

Since questions were raised over the constitutional validity of the government order, the state defended the order that was based on the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission's recommendation. The state informed the court that only those who enjoyed reservation benefits before conversion would continue to be beneficiaries after embracing Islam.

The bench said: "The stand of the government that there can be conversion to a notified Islamic sect is inconceivable in principle." It upheld the order denying his application to be issued a "Muslim Lebbai" community certificate and set aside the March 2024 Tamil Nadu government order granting reservation in such cases as unconstitutional.