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

The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court was hearing a petition filed in 2022 by a man from Thoothukudi district who converted to Islam and changed his name. He was born to Hindu parents. A certificate issued by Sunnath Jamath, Kayathar in 2015 stated that the petitioner had converted to Islam. File | Photo credit: The Hindu

A convert to Islam cannot claim the status of a backward class Muslim. He is merely a Muslim and that is all, ruled the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court while declaring unconstitutional the GO of 2024, which allows converts to claim such status.

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

He asked for a community certificate certifying him as a ‘Muslim Lebbai’, the faith he claimed to follow. However, the Kayathar Tahsildar rejected his request. He contested it and moved the court.

Meanwhile, the GO issued in 2024 directed 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 may be issued a community certificate as belonging to one of the seven notified sects.

However, the state said that a convert from a forward community to Islam would not get the BC (Muslim) tag. Only those who were already enjoying the benefits of reservation in their original religion would not lose it due to conversion to Islam. The social balance will not be affected, it was submitted.

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

The court said that both Christian missionaries and Islamic preachers have claimed for decades and centuries that their religions offer social equality unlike Hinduism, which has caste as its own feature. “After such an attitude towards making conversions, it is false to say that there is a hierarchy even in Islam. In our polite opinion, the categorization of certain sects as backward and the rest as forward is contrary to the injunctions of the Quran. Islam seeks to establish an egalitarian society. All are equal in the eyes of God,” the court said. There is no social hierarchy.

“Be that as it may, for historical reasons Islamic society is also stratified into different communities. It can even be boldly noted that they are akin to caste in Hinduism. Just as caste is determined by birth, one is a Rowther or Marakkayar or Deccani Muslim from birth. It is ridiculous to say that one can be converted into a Rowther Muslim.”

More than 75 years ago, after converting to Islam, a person becomes a Muslim. The Division Bench used the expression “Mussalman only”. He cannot be assigned to any particular sect or community, which can only be by virtue of being born into it. When the proposition laid down by the Division Bench holds the field, it cannot be reversed by issuing a mere Government Order.

“The doctrine of the separation of powers is a principle enshrined in the Constitution and that it is a fundamental element of the rule of law. This principle applies to final court decisions. The legislature cannot declare any court decision to be invalid or ineffective,” the court said.

In this context, it is not open to the State Government to issue an Executive Order undermining this decision.

“This is exactly what the government has done by accepting that conversion can take place to any of the seven sects of Muslims identified as Backward Class Muslims. The sheer arbitrariness of the impugned GO is evident for one more reason. The Backward Classes Commission’s recommendations as well as the GO provide for accommodation of BC/MBC/DNC/SC seven converts who are at the lowest rung of the social group. The ladder is placed on par with BC. The Supreme Court in a series of decisions has held that OBCs and SCs form separate categories.” said the court.

It is only to ensure that the converts to Islam continue to enjoy some form of benefits in the form of reservation that the state government has made such a grouping. This reveals a fundamental flaw in the approach adopted by the government, the court said.

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

Published – 26 Jun 2026 22:59 IST