Madhya Pradesh High Court directs police to investigate Arya Samaj trust for converting Muslim woman to Hinduism

The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently ordered the police to investigate an Arya Samaj trust in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh for illegally converting a Muslim woman to Hinduism and then solemnising her marriage to a man without any legal sanction [Rahul v State of MP]..A Division Bench of Justices Rohit Arya and Milind Ramesh Phadke noted that such religious conversion by the Arya Samaj Vivah Trust is considered to be illegal."The abortive act of conversion by such self-styled Vivah Mandirs involves people from Hindu and Muslim community and may cause serious law and order problem, therefore, this Court may invoke suo motu jurisdiction and issue notice to the said Vivah Mandir," the order states..It further noted that the nefarious activities of the trust in converting people from one religion to another without any authority of law was detrimental to the social fabric and public order, and could also trigger mass unrest which may result into communal tension and riotous activities..Calling for a police probe into the activities of the trust, the Bench ordered,"Conversion of a Muslim girl to Hindu religion, found to be illegal and vulnerable in public domain, Senior Superintendent of Police, Ghaziabad is directed to get an investigation done for verification of existence/constitution and members of the respondent no.6/Vivah Mandir Trust...if any, of the alleged activities and thereafter suitable corrective measures be taken as per law and, if need be, also forward the enquiry report to the competent Authority under the relevant Trust Act to initiate action against the so called Trust."It also directed the police to look into the activities/methodology of functioning and the books of accounts and records of the trust..The Bench also observed that the said activities of Vivah Trust tantamount to running marriage shops on commercial lines. The same is a serious threat to the sanctity attached to marriages recognized under personal laws, particularly the Hindu Marriage Act, the judges opined..The Court was hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by one Rahul in 2021 praying for the release of his wife, Hina, who was illegally confined by police authorities in a nari sudhar grah (women's shelter home) in Gwalior.The petitioner claimed that they married each other after running away from their homes, and for this purpose, his wife (a Muslim) converted to Hinduism. He submitted a conversion certificate and marriage certificate issued on September 17, 2019 by the Arya Samaj Vivah Mandir at Ghaziabad..However, during the hearings, the Bench stressed upon the need to decide the validity of such marriages in eyes of law. It thus noted that the conversion certificate and the marriage certificate were without any authority of law and hence null and void."Considering these factors and the sensitivity of the issue involved, this Court is constrained to exercise its extraordinary constitutional jurisdiction, under Article 226 of the Constitution, to checkmate such situation and its recurrence in future at the hands of respondent no.6 (Trust)," the Court said.The Court also found that the issuance of a conversion certificate by the trust was in stark violation of Section 5 of the Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantrya Adhiniyam, 1968. It was noted that the trust was empowered only to arrange marriage ceremonies according to Hindu rites and customs, and not to solemnize them and issue marriage certificates..With regard to the woman’s release, the Court observed that since she was a major, she had the right to choose. "The Additional District Magistrate is directed to arrange for an in-camera video-graphed meeting of the corpus with her parents within one week from today and, thereafter, despite meeting if corpus, who is major, still is not inclined to go with her parents, she shall be set free forthwith to go as per her wishes," the Court ordered..The petitioner was represented by Advocate Suresh Agrawal, while Additional Advocate General MPS Raghuvanshi and Deputy Advocate General Rajesh Shukla appeared for the State. Advocates Balwant Singh Billowria and Prabhat Kumar Singh appeared for the trust, while Advocate Faisal Ali Shah assisted the Court as amicus curiae..[Read Order]