A public interest litigation has been filed by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of anti-conversion laws enacted by the States of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
Filed through Advocate Ejaz Maqbool, the petition contended that the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition Of Unlawful Conversion Of Religion Act, 2021; the Uttarakhand Freedom Of Religion Act, 2018; the Himachal Pradesh Freedom Of Religion Act, 2019; the Madhya Pradesh Freedom Of Religion Act, 2021, and the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021 were enacted to ‘harass’ the inter-faith couples and implicate them in criminal cases.
As per the Islamic organisation, the provisions of all five Acts forced a person to disclose his or her faith, thereby invading the privacy of a person.
The compulsory disclosure of one’s religion in any form amounted to violation of the right to manifest his/her beliefs as the said right included the right not to manifest one’s beliefs, added the plea.
It said the provisions of these Acts entitled the family members of persons entering into inter-faith marriage to lodge a first information report, virtually giving them a fresh tool for harassing a convert.
Stating that the Acts were being misused by the disgruntled family members of inter-faith couples, the plea mentioned a news report published by India Today on December 29, 2020, which said that within one month of the Uttar Pradesh Ordinance (which was subsequently replaced by an Act), 14 cases were registered, out of which only two were based on complaints by the victims and rest of the cases arose out of the complaints by family members.
The organisation further argued that all the Acts were liable to be set aside for defining ‘allurement’ to include undue influence. The phrase ‘undue influence’ was too wide and vague and could be used to prosecute any person, who was in a stronger position vis-a-vis the converted person, explained the petition.