The Kerala High Court ruled that school certificates should be updated to reflect a person’s new religion after conversion. The court emphasized that individuals have the right to change their religion and that official records must be corrected accordingly.
Kerala: The Kerala High Court recently stated that a person’s request to update their religion in academic records cannot be refused due to the absence of specific legal provisions.
Justice VG Arun noted that once a person changes their religion, appropriate amendments must be made in the relevant records.
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The Court declared,
“Even if there is no provision allowing the change of religion in school certificates, this does not justify restricting a person to the religion of their birth. Article 25(1) of the Constitution guarantees the freedom to practice and profess any religion. If someone adopts a new religion by exercising this freedom, necessary updates must be made in their records,”
In May 2017, the petitioners, who were originally Hindus by birth and practice, converted to Christianity. Following their baptism, they requested the Controller of Examinations to update their school certificates to reflect their new religious affiliation.
However, their request denied due to the lack of specific provisions allowing such changes in school records.
Challenging this decision, the petitioners approached the High Court, arguing that despite the absence of explicit provisions, the High Court has broad powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to address such issues.
The Government Pleader opposed the petition, relying on certain Government Orders to support his stance.
The Court, however, rejected the government’s opposition. It referred to a previous judgment with similar facts, emphasizing that not allowing the correction would negatively impact the petitioners’ future and contradict the Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.
The Court stated,
“As rightly observed in Ext.P10 judgment, refusal to carry out the correction will have an adverse impact on the future of the applicants. Moreover, such rigid approach militates against the Constitutional guarantee also,”
Consequently, the Court overturned the Controller of Examination’s decision and directed the authority to update the petitioners’ school certificates within a month.
Advocate T K Ananda Krishnan represented the petitioners.
Senior Government Pleader Deepa Narayanan appeared for the State.
Read Judgement: [Lohith S & Anr v State of Kerala & Anr]
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