The case deals with the social, political, and economic aspects of conversion of about 1,100 Harijans to Islam that took place in 1981 in the remote village of Meenakshipuram in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. The Hindu organizations at the national and local level were shocked by these conversions. They launched campaigns decrying these incidents as being manipulated by the money power from the gulf countries designed to spread Islam. The Harijans and their organization stoutly denied having been influenced by money but declared that their maltreatment in the hands of the caste Hindus was the reason behind such conversions. However, both the state and central governments adopted an ambivalent attitude and seemed reluctant to side with any of these opposing views openly.