Uttar Pradesh ordinance on religious conversion, inter-faith marriage challenged before Supreme Court

The ordinance promulgated by the Uttar Pradesh cabinet on religious conversion and inter-faith marriages will be misused to falsely implicate people and will lead to chaos and fear, a petition filed before the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the ordinance has said. .The plea by two lawyers, Vishal Thakre and Abhay Singh Yadav and one law researcher, Pranvesh has contended that the ordinance is against public policy and against fundamental rights of people. ."This ordinance can become a potent tool in the hands of bad elements of the society to falsely implicate anyone and there are probabilities of falsely implicating persons who are not involved in any such acts (contemplated under the ordinance) and it will result in grave injustice," the petition states..The controversial ordinance titled, Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 (Uttar Pradesh Vidhi Virudh Dharma Samparivartan Pratishedh Adhyadhesh, 2020 in Hindi) was cleared by the State Cabinet in November..The petition filed by Advocate Sanjeev Malhotra states that the founding fathers wanted the "Constitution to be an adaptable document rather than a rigid framework for governance.""They wanted it to be a flexible document which can adjust or adapt itself according to the changing situations," reads the plea. .The petition further states that center has the right to make laws for the states as per Article 254 of the Constitution of India, if there is inconsistency between laws made by Parliament and laws made by the Legislatures of State, in that case the Law enacted /passed by the Center will prevail. .It lays down a detailed procedure to be followed before an individual can convert from one religion to another. Violation of the same entails criminal liability on the individual who undergoes conversion and the individual who converts the person. The ordinance also states that no person shall convert or attempt to convert either directly or otherwise any other person from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage nor shall any person abet, convince or conspire such conversion..Besides the UP ordinance, the petitioners have also assailed the validity of a similar law passed by the Uttarakhand government in 2018 - the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act.

Uttar Pradesh ordinance on religious conversion, inter-faith marriage challenged before Supreme Court

Debayan Roy

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