Legal status of Jainism as a distinct religion in India

A section of scholars earlier considered it as a Hindu sect or a Buddhist heresy, but it is one of the three ancient Indian religions.

The three main principles of Jainism are Ahimsa, Anekantvad and Aparigrah.The Supreme Court also noted: " … that the State Governments of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have already notified Jains as 'minority' in accordance with the provisions of the respective State Minority Commissions Act.

Basic Shiksha Parishad Judgment[13] (the para numbers refer to the paragraphs in the Judgment): On 3 September 1949, while addressing a public meeting at Allahabad, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru said:[14] The said speech can be considered to be a clarification on Article 25 of the Constitution of India.

It clubbed Jainism and Buddhism as denominations of Hinduism, like Shia and Sunnis are of Islam or Catholicism and Protestantism of Christianity.

[19] The Governor held that Jainism and Buddhism are recognised as religions rather than denominations of Hinduism, something that the Amendment Bill sought to wrongly convey.

A press release issued by Raj Bhavan, said "the proposed amendment would amount to withdrawing the protection against forceful or inappropriate religious conversions, particularly in case of Jains and Buddhists".

The release cited large scale protests from different religious and social organisations, especially from the Jain and Christian communities, in indicating toward the unacceptability of the proposed amendment.