In Chinthada Anand vs. State of Andhra Pradesh (March 26, 2026), a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court reaffirmed that only those professing Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism qualify for inclusion in the Scheduled Castes (SCs). This ruling appears to overlook the persistence of caste-based discrimination in a deeply stratified society where such inequalities cut across religious boundaries. As India moves towards conducting its first caste census since independence, people belonging to Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities continue to struggle for inclusion within the SC category. This exclusion limits their access to several socio-economic benefits under SC-based affirmative action policies.This article draws on empirical evidence to demonstrate that caste-based stratification exists among Muslims and Christians, much as it does in Indic religions, and argues for extending the principles of social justice to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians.Constitutional guarantee and its limitationsAt its inception, the constitution of India provided safeguards to historically oppressed communities. SC status, initially limited to people from Dalit Hindu communities, was subsequently expanded to include Sikh and Neo-Buddhist Dalit people. However, people belonging to Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities remain constitutionally excluded. Article 341 imposes a religious restriction on entry into the SC list by prohibiting the inclusion of Dalit people belonging to Abrahamic religions. Notably, no such restriction applies to other constitutionally recognised social categories: the Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) are all secular in their scope. In 2022, the central government appointed a three-member commission, headed by former Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan, to examine the exclusion of Dalit Christian and Muslim converts from the SC status. Its report is yet to submitted. In 2007, the Ranganath Mishra Commission, also known as the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, had explicitly concluded that the non-inclusion of people from Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities in the Scheduled Castes list amounts to discrimination on the basis of religion.Although the Sachar Committee report (2006) highlights the broader socio-economic deprivation of Muslims as a whole, it also points to the comparatively worse conditions of Pasmanda Muslims within the community.Shireen Azam, in their article “Scheduled Caste Status for Dalit Muslims and Christians: A Comprehensive Clarification,” argues that the exclusion of Dalit Muslim castes from the SC list is largely a consequence of Ashraf dominance in Muslim political representation, with upper-caste representatives showing little interest in addressing the conditions of lower-caste Muslims. Unlike Sikh representatives, who actively advocated for the inclusion of Dalit Sikh communities in the SC list. Also read: Explainer: What the Law Says on ‘Scheduled Caste’ Status of Christians and Muslims Evidence of caste among Muslims and ChristiansA research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University whom I know, belonging to the Mappila Muslim community from Kerala, has repeatedly noted that Islam rejects the caste system. In his view, caste among Muslims is largely a North Indian phenomenon, prevalent in Hindi-speaking regions but absent in southern India, especially Kerala.This position is not unique. It reflects a widely held belief shaped by interpretations influenced by sections of the Ulema (religious scholars). It rests on a juxtaposition between the ideal of equality in Islam and the persistence of caste-based social practices, which are at times justified through religious interpretation.While Islam and Christianity in India may appear to involve less caste-based discrimination in access to religious services and places of worship, broader social relations and patterns of segregation among Muslims display levels of stratification comparable to those found among Hindus, Sikhs and Jains.To interrogate this claim, I analysed the Pew Research Centre’s India dataset (2021). One response category in the caste-related question, “my religion does not recognise the caste system,” offers valuable insights into popular perceptions. Respondents across religious groups were asked to situate themselves within standard social categories. Interestingly, although people from Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities are not constitutionally recognised, the sample includes self-reported Scheduled Caste Muslims and Scheduled Caste Christians.The findings are striking. As illustrated in Chart 1, only 0.034% of Hindus responded that their religion does not recognise caste. Among Muslims, the figure was a mere 0.47%, and among Christians only 0.59%. Not a single Buddhist respondent reported that their religion is free from caste. Among Jain respondents, 4.58% denied the existence of the caste within their religion, the highest share across all groups. These patterns suggest that, contrary to popular claims, overwhelming majorities across all religious communities acknowledge the presence of caste within their own social and religious frameworks.Chart 1: Percentage of respondents across religions who denied the existence of caste in their religion. Photo: Chart created by the author.State-level data further reinforces this conclusion. Among the 25 states and Union Territories for which Muslim data are available, only Rajasthan (4.03%), West Bengal (0.44%), Madhya Pradesh (3.33%) and Assam (4.83%) show any noticeable proportion of Muslims asserting that their religion does not recognise caste. In all other regions, this proportion is effectively zero. This indicates that nearly all surveyed Muslims locate themselves within caste categories such as General, SC, ST, OBC or Most Backward Classes (MBC), and do not believe that their religion excludes or prohibits such categorisation. Taken together, these findings challenge the generally held assumption that caste is absent in non-Indic religions in India. Instead, they point to a more complex and enduring reality: caste remains a pervasive social institution that transcends religious boundaries and continues to shape identities and hierarchies across the country. Widespread resistance to inter-caste marriage across religious groupsTables 1 and 2 below present data on resistance to inter-caste marriage across both Indic and Abrahamic religions. Table 2 shows the percentage of respondents who consider it important to prevent women from marrying into other castes. Table 3 shows the corresponding data regarding men. In both cases, resistance is remarkably high among Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Jains. It is comparatively lower among Christians and Buddhists, though it remains significant even within these communities. Across social groups within Buddhist and Christian communities, respondents belonging to MBCs tend to be relatively less rigid in their attitudes toward inter-caste marriage.Table 1: Percentage of respondents discouraging inter-caste marriage for women across groupsReligionGeneralSCsSTsOBCsMBCsHindu78.6477.4283.8482.1369.3Islam79.2988.8189.485.378.82Christian59.81596847.8923.52Sikh81.4881.7886.958033.33Buddhism54.566.4553.5738.4620Jainism 8710010045.4NA(Based on the author’s calculations.)Table 3: Percentage of respondents discouraging inter-caste marriage for men across groupsReligionGeneralSCsSTsOBCsMBCsHindu77.4676.5881.6881.4968.82Islam76.5587.5786.7582.3478.82Christian58.4458.6264.9848.7329.41Sikh81.8580.9795.6582.8566.6Buddhism45.467.955.3553.8415Jain83.5210010045.4NA(Based on the author’s calculations.) The theoretical foundations of inter-caste marriage in Islam lies in the concept of kafa’ah (often referred to as kufu in the subcontinent), which denotes the idea of compatibility or equality between the bride and groom, aimed at ensuring a socially and religiously balanced marriage. Many renowned Islamic scholars across different denominations in the Indian subcontinent have interpreted kafa’ah in ways that incorporate caste or lineage (nasab), thereby lending religious justification to restrictions on inter-caste marriages. Scholars such as Ahmed Raza Khan (Barelvi), Ashraf Ali Thanvi and Qasim Nanautvi (Deobandi), as well as Salafi/Wahhabi and Shia scholars, have in varying degrees, discouraged inter-caste marriages on these grounds. Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities face a double discriminationThe figures above clearly demonstrate that caste continues to shape social relations even within Abrahamic religious groups in India, generating internal hierarchies and patterns of exclusion. There is already substantial literature documenting caste systems and caste-based discrimination within Indian Muslim and Christian communities. Dalit people belonging to Abrahamic faiths face a dual discrimination: communal discrimination owing to their religious identity and caste-based discrimination from within their own religious communities. Massod Alam Falahi, in their book Hindustan Mein Zaat-Paat Aur Musalman, noted that key Muslim religious bodies, including the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and other influential national-level organisations representing different Muslim denominations, are predominantly led by Ashraf Muslims. Masawat ki Jung by Ali Anwar similarly documents the prevalent caste-based discrimination experienced by Muslims in Bihar across both religious and social spheres. Ali Anwar, credited with popularising the term “Pasmanda Musalman” in the 1990s, presents this discrimination in compelling detail. As Kancha Ilaiah observed, his work “could pave the way for Pasmanda intellectuals joining hands with Phule-Ambedkarite movements across India.”The deeply embedded nature of caste among Muslims in India is not new. Even the poet Iqbal expressed anguish over it:“Firqa bandi hai kahin aur kahin zaatein hain,Kya zamaane mein panapne ki yehi baatein hain?” (Somewhere it is sectarianism, elsewhere it is caste divisions-Are these truly the ways to thrive in this world today?)And:‘Yun to Syed bhi ho, Mirza bhi ho, Afghan bhi ho,Tum sabhi kuch ho, batao to Musalman bhi ho?’(You may be a Syed, a Mirza, or an Afghan-You are all of these, but tell me, are you truly a Muslim as well?)Caste census and the future of Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities in IndiaThe position of the Bharatiya Janta Party-led central government on the recognition of people from Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities reflects a fundamental duality. In 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urged party workers in Hyderabad to reach out to Pasmanda Muslims, while simultaneously targeted Muslims as a religious group during the 2024 general election campaign. That same year, the government also filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court opposing the inclusion of Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian communities in the SC list, arguing that caste-based discrimination does not exist within Abrahamic religions. Yet, in the recently amended Waqf Act, currently under judicial review, the government introduced provisions that indirectly recognise marginalised Muslim groups, often associated with the Ajlaf and Arzal categories, for representation in Waqf Boards.In the Indian Muslim social hierarchy, groups are often classified along caste lines: Ashraf Muslims occupy a position analogous to upper castes, while Ajlaf and Arzal represent socially and economically marginalised sections.Following demands for a caste census by the Indian National Congress and other parties in the INDIA block, the government of India recently announced that a caste enumeration will be conducted alongside the upcoming national census. As India moves toward its first nationwide caste census since independence, the future status of Dalit Muslim and Dalit Christian people remains uncertain. This moment presents an important opportunity to extend the scope of social justice to these long-excluded communities. The evidence is strong enough to move this discussion beyond academic debate and into the realm of policy.Mohd Arshid is a research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, working on the political economy of religion in India.