Akkala Rama Reddy v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2025) — Christian Pastor Denied SC/ST Protections

On April 30, 2025, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Amaravati, presided over by Justice Harinath N., delivered a landmark judgment in Criminal Petition No. 7114 of 2022 with far-reaching implications for Dalit Christians and SC/ST legal protections in India. The case arose from a 2021 criminal complaint (Special SC/ST Case No. 36 of 2021) filed by Pastor Chinthada Anand against Akkala Rami Reddy, alleging caste-based assault and death threats during Sunday prayer sessions in a village in Andhra Pradesh.

The petitioner (Akkala Rami Reddy) challenged the case in the High Court, arguing that the invocation of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2015 was legally untenable. Justice Harinath N. allowed the petition and quashed the criminal case, holding that the complainant—despite his historical status as a member of the Madiga Scheduled Caste—had forfeited his right to SC protections upon his conversion to Christianity. The court reasoned that the caste system is inherently linked to Hinduism and is alien to Christianity, and therefore someone practicing as a Christian pastor cannot invoke the SC/ST Act's protective provisions, regardless of possessing a valid SC certificate.

This judgment established a critical precedent that would later be upheld and expanded by the Supreme Court of India in the related case of Chinthada Anand v. State of Andhra Pradesh (March 2026), where the nation's highest court clarified that conversion to Christianity immediately and completely extinguishes SC status. The Akkala Rama Reddy decision thus became a defining moment in the intersection of religious freedom, caste identity, and statutory protections for marginalized communities in contemporary India.