Person Not Christian Just Because There Are Paintings Of Holy Cross, Statue Of Lord Jesus In His House: Bombay High Court

Mere presence of a painting of the Holy Cross or a statue of Lord Jesus Christ in a person's house cannot be used as a ground to hold that the said person or his forefathers have converted into Christianity, held the Bombay High Court recently. Sitting at the Nagpur seat, a division bench of Justice Mukulika Jawalkar and Justice Nandesh Deshpande quashed and set aside an order of a District Caste Scrutiny Committee which refused to grant the status of "Mang or Matang", a Scheduled Caste, to one Stawan Wilson Sathe. The Committee had refused to declare Sathe as a Scheduled Caste person on the ground that the school records of his grandfather indicated that he adopted Christianity though the other family members of the petitioner had valid SC certificates. The petitioner explained that when his grandfather was in school, he was harassed and because of this, he was admitted to another school, where it was shown that he has admitted Christianity but factually none of his family members or forefathers had ever accepted Christianity. The judges too noted that the Committee solely went by the photos of Holy Cross in the petitioner's house but failed to ascertain if there was any baptism certificate issued in name of either of his forefathers or family members indicating that they have converted into Christianity. "It is the duty of the Caste Scrutiny Committee before concluding that the Petitioner's father and grandfather have converted themselves into Christianity, whether there was any rituals of baptism are performed or not. Only because there is painting of Cross or presence of a statue of God Jesus Christ, would not suffice to hold that the forefather of the Petitioner converted into Christianity," the judges held in the judgment delivered on February 26. The bench found no material placed on record to show that either the father, grandfather or any of the petitioner's blood relatives ever converted to Christian religion and rather all continued to possess a Mang caste certificate. Therefore, the judges quashed and set aside September 27, 2023 order passed by the Caste Scrutiny Committee and ordered it to grant a Mang caste certificate to the petitioner. Appearance:Advocate UJ Deshpande appeared for the Petitioner. Assistant Government Pleader NR Patil represented State. Case Title: Stavan Wilson Sathe vs State of Maharashtra (Writ Petition 2665 of 2024)Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Bom) 96Click Here To Read/Download Judgment

Person Not Christian Just Because There Are Paintings Of Holy Cross, Statue Of Lord Jesus In His House: Bombay High Court

Narsi Benwal

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