Ghaziabad / New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed District Magistrate of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, to investigate the caste status of Premchand, a man recently arrested under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.
In its notice issued under Section 12 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the Commission cited prima facie violations of constitutional provisions governing Scheduled Caste (SC) status.
The Commission issued the notice after a complaint, jointly filed by Agni Samaj and activist Bhupendra Singh Jatav, that alleged that Premchand – despite having converted to Christianity – continues to hold an SC certificate and possibly avails of SC-specific government benefits. This is in direct violation of Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, which restricts SC recognition to individuals professing the Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist faiths, the complaint said.
Premchand was arrested on 15 June 2025 by Ghaziabad’s Crossing Republic police from Vijay Nagar, along with a Kerala-based pastor, Vinod Mohan Kunj, after a protest led by Bajrang Dal’s Prabal Gupta. As per Gupta’s complaint to police, Premchand and Vinod had been conducting illegal religious conversions under the guise of Sunday prayer gatherings for several years.
The NHRC complaint was supported by field research by Agni Samaj. The submission included photographs of a Christian cross displayed prominently at the entrance of Premchand’s residence, and eyewitness accounts from neighbours describing the premises as a “church” where 30–35 people regularly gathered for prayer meetings.
The Commission has now instructed the District Magistrate to verify the validity of the SC certificates held by Premchand and his family members and submit an Action Taken Report (ATR) within 15 days.
The case has reignited national debate on the issue of crypto-conversion and fraudulent misuse of constitutional protections intended for Scheduled Castes.
The legal position has been reiterated repeatedly by India’s top courts: Scheduled Caste status is automatically forfeited upon conversion to any faith other than Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism. In May 2025, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled similarly in a case involving Pastor Chintada Anand from Guntur. Anand, a Christian preacher for over a decade, had filed a complaint under the SC/ST Act. The court dismissed it, holding that he had misused the SC status after religious conversion.
