Santhosh Kumar 16 June 2018
How to apply for birth certificate with religion as other or nil. I went to apply for PICME number for birth certificate and they asked me the religion. I said we are interfaith marriage so we want to leave it as optional. But they forced me to select between three choices. Why isnt there an option to choose as nil or leave as blank?
Vanshika Kapoor 24 July 2018
Hello Santhosh,
One cannot change ones caste. For all practical purposes, legally, caste of a person makes no difference unless you want to take the benefit of reservations. Only for SCs and STs (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes), castes matter, legally.
All others are open category.
Secondly, you cannot be an Atheist legally. And let me tell you why. It is not because India doesn't recognize Atheism. India does. Freedom of religion contains freedom to not follow any.
The reason is simple -
Because India still has different personal laws for different religious people. Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Christians all have different laws. And Atheists don't have a secular law to govern them.
While we do have Special marriage Act for marriages among atheists or people belonging to different religions, we do not have other provisions relating to succession for Atheists.
So, even if you are an Atheist, you will have to politically identify yourself as a person belonging to your birth or converted religion so that the state can apply the respective law to you.
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