SC upholds Mohammad Sadique''s election as MLA

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 29 

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Mohammad Sadique as Congress MLA from the Bhadaur Assembly constituency reserved for the Scheduled Caste in the January 2012 poll.

A Bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Prafulla C. Pant set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s judgment delivered on April 7, 2015, holding that Sadique being a Muslim could not have contested from the constituency reserved for SC candidates. Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Darbara Singh Guru had challenged the election of Sadique.

Sadique had come to the Supreme Court, challenging the high court verdict. The apex court pointed out that Sadique had embraced the Sikh religion on April 13, 2006, and got this fact published in newspapers on January 4, 2007. Prior to this, he had got a Scheduled Caste certificate issued by the competent authority, showing him as belonging to the ‘Doom’ community which came under the SC category.

“Admittedly, the appellant was born to Muslim parents. However, he has proved that his family members followed Islam but they belonged to Doom community. It is settled law that a person can change his religion and faith, but not the caste to which he belongs as caste has linkage to birth,” the apex court held.

Sadique had pleaded that he did not change his Muslim name as he had become a popular singer with it, but followed the rites and traditions of the Sikh religion.

Accepting the plea, the Supreme Court ruled that “it is not essential for anyone to change one’s name after embracing a different faith. However, such change in name can be a corroborating fact.”

The Bench also clarified that it was not necessary in law that the entire family of the converted person should “convert or reconvert to the religion to which he has gone. Sadique has stated that he not only followed Sikh traditions, he never offered Namaz, nor observed Roza nor went to Haj.”