CBCI opposes discrimination of Dalit Christians

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) reiterated its condemnation in the delay of justice to Dalit Christians on religious grounds.

"The Dalit Christian reservation issue should not be on the basis of religion but should be on the social-economic conditions of the person and the whole community as such," the CBCI said.

The Catholic bishops body, said Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes, secretary of CBCI, had often discussed the Dalit Christian issue thread bare and was of the opinion that there should be no discrimination at all on religious grounds.

He pointed that a large number of Dalit Christians have been deprived of certain privileges which other reserved communities are enjoying.

The Catholic Council of India (CCI) had also spoke on the same issue in its 10th General Body meeting in Nagpur.

"We shall continue to fight against the denial of SC status to Dalit Christians," CCI said in a statement.

It said it was an indicative of unpardonable discrimination against Dalit Christians in the context of the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission report which has upheld the rights of Dalit Christians and Muslims.

Currently, the government is to respond in the case after the All India Christian Federation filed a petition in the Supreme Court.

The petition denounced para 3 of the Constitution Scheduled Castes Order, 1950, which debars reservation benefits to Dalits who convert from Hinduism to Christianity or Islam.