Religious Conversion For Marriage Not Exercise Of Choice When It Is Due To Compulsion Of Personal Law: UP Govt Defends 'Love Jihad' Ordinance

The UP Government on Thursday filed a counter affidavit in response to a batch of PILs challenging its controversial Love-Jihad Ordinance. In its reply, the Government has claimed that the Ordinance is aimed at preventing any form of unlawful conversion actuated by elements of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement, etc. "The Constitution of India abhors any form of forceful conversion particularly in matters of religion. Being a secular State it becomes the foremost duty of the State to protect its citizens from any kind of unlawful or forceful conversion so that the liberty of thought, faith, belief and worship as well as equality of status stands safeguarded thereby assuring the dignity of the individuals," the Government submitted.It clarified that a perusal of the entire ordinance discloses that nowhere the term "Love Jihad" has been employed. The Government claims that the Ordinance is equally applicable to all forms of forceful conversions and is not only confined to inter faith Marriages. Hence it cannot be said that the ordinance is promulgated in the name of 'Love Jihad'. The Government has also stated that the recent Division Bench judgment of the High Court in the Salamat Ansari case needs to reconsidered as it has not dealt with the question relating to inter-fundamental right and intra-fundamental rights as it has also skipped the attention of the Hon'ble Division Bench as to what will be the scope of liberty of an individual qua the societal interest. On December 18, 2020, a Chief Justice led Division Bench of the High Court issued notices on a batch of PILs challenging the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, and had asked the UP Government to file a counter affidavit by January 4.Ordinance in Public Interest It is asserted the impugned Ordinance is passed in public interest inasmuch as there is a fear psychosis spread in the community at large and the Community itself is endangered and succumbs to the pressure resulting in forceful conversion. In such circumstances, it is submitted, becomes necessary that the interest of the community as a whole requires a protection and no microanalysis of individual interest can be looked into. Inter alia, it is pointed out that eight other States in the country have similar legislations prohibiting forceful conversion of religion and the validity of two of the said legislations enacted by the Governments of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa has already been upheld by the Supreme Court in Rev. Stanislaus v. State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1977 SC 908. Further, the Government has relied upon the recommendation made in the working committee reports of the United Nations Human Rights Council, where by taking note of forced conversions and how the violation of freedom of conscience by non-state actors was being perpetrated but on account of non-sufficient state machineries, it was stated that it is the positive obligation of the Stale to protect the rights of such class of individuals that were being encroached by non-State actors.Illustrations of conversions by force/ by free will The affidavit gives certain illustrations as to what is not a forceful conversion and what is a forceful conversion. A case where there is no forceful conversion, the affidavit states: "A Hindu boy or a Muslim Boy or Sikh Boy attends a convent school, recite the morning prayer in the school, reads certain scriptures from the Holy Bible and complete his education. The objective is to take education in the convent school run by the minority Christian establishment. Students of non-Christian religion believe in their own faith and there is no loss of equality of status or loss of dignity and at the same time they have a choice to Study in a particular institution. The student does not covert and there is no conversion as he has not started believing in Christian faith." A case where there is forceful conversion, the affidavit states: "Mr. X is a member of Scheduled Caste. A group of missionaries visit the colony (Basti) where he resides with other Scheduled Caste persons. These missionaries allure every Member in the colony (Basti) that we have a training school for Nursing and in case if you start believing in GOD and start reading Bible we will provide you Nurses Training Course free of cost and thereafter in the Hospital which is ran by a particular community you will be given job of a Nurse and ultimately you will be in service of GOD. Thereby you will be providing service to the community at large provided you believe in GOD and leave your faith as this faith only treats you as Scheduled Caste and looks down upon you. Being allured by such assurances and to be given a decent job the entire Scheduled Caste community of the colony (Basti) decides to convert themselves to that particular community and leave their faith. This amounts to...

Religious Conversion For Marriage Not Exercise Of Choice When It Is Due To Compulsion Of Personal Law: UP Govt Defends 'Love Jihad' Ordinance

Akshita Saxena

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