Using the justification that the right to freedom of religion does not confer a fundamental right to convert other people to a particular religion, the Centre informed the Supreme Court on 28 November that it is considering steps to stop the menace of conversion through force, fraud, allurement, and deception.
A PIL filed by Ashwini Upadhyay alleging a steep rise of mass religious conversions of socially and economically underprivileged persons in the past two decades raises a very serious issue, according to a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar. The court ordered solicitor general Tushar Mehta to file a comprehensive affidavit after gathering data from all states.
Forced conversions are a threat, says SG
The insertion of the phrase propagate was accompanied by a clarification that the fundamental right under Article 25 would not include the right to convert, according to the government, who claimed that the word was the subject of lengthy debate in the Constituent Assembly.
According to Article 25(1) of the Constitution, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice, and propagate religion, subject to public order, morality, and health as well as the other provisions of this Part (basic rights chapter).
In its eight-page affidavit, the government claimed that nine states, including Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Haryana, had already passed anti-conversion legislation to prevent people from changing their religion forcibly or in exchange for gifts.
The government claimed that the SC had determined that fraudulent or induced conversions impinge upon the right to freedom of conscience of an individual apart from hampering public order while upholding the validity of laws passed by Odisha and MP.
Due to time constraints, the SC postponed the hearing until December 5.
News Mania Desk
