PRAYAGRAJ, Dec. 3 -- The Allahabad high court has issued a sweeping direction to the Uttar Pradesh administration to ensure that individuals in the state who have converted to Christianity do not continue to avail benefits meant for Scheduled Castes (SC). The court directed the principal secretary, minorities welfare department, Uttar Pradesh, to take appropriate action to strictly enforce the distinction between minority status and Scheduled Caste status. The court stated that the retention of SC status after conversion amounts to a 'fraud on the Constitution' and set a strict deadline of four months for all district magistrates in the state to act in accordance with the law to identify and prevent such occurrences. The court quoted various provisions of the 'The Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950' and said, "this Court finds it pertinent to mention the relevant provisions of the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950 under which it has been held that no person who belongs to a community other than Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist shall be deemed to be a member of scheduled caste." Justice Praveen Kumar Giri passed the order while dismissing an application filed by one Jitendra Sahani, who has been accused of mocking Hindu deities and promoting enmity. Sahani had filed the plea to quash a charge sheet in the case, arguing that he had sought permission from the concerned authorities to preach the "words of Jesus Christ" on his own land and was being falsely implicated. The court in its order dated November 21 dismissed the application, holding that it lacked merit. However, during the course of the hearing, while reviewing the affidavit filed in support of the applicant's petition, the court noted that he had mentioned his religion as 'Hindu' in the affidavit, even though he had converted to Christianity. At this point, the court was informed that the applicant was a member of the Scheduled Caste community before his conversion, and yet he mentioned his religion as 'Hindu' in the affidavit before the court. htc...