New Delhi: If a Christian reconverts to Scheduled Caste, he is entitled to all SC benefits if the community accepts him into its fold, the Supreme Court held on Thursday.

Giving this ruling a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and V. Gopala Gowda said, “A person whose parents belong to a Scheduled Caste before their conversion to Christ-ianity can, on conversion or reconversion to Hinduism, be regarded as a member of the Scheduled Caste so as to be eligible for the benefit of reservation for Scheduled Castes.”

Writing the judgement, Justice Misra said, “The practice of caste, however irrational it may appear to our reason and however repugnant it may appear to our moral and social sense, is so deep-rooted in the Indian people that its mark does not seem to disappear on conversion to a different religion. If it disappears, it is only to reappear on reconversion.”