Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law aims to ‘sustain spirit of secularism’, says Allahabad HC
An individual’s freedom of religion cannot be extended to construe a ‘collective right to proselytise’, the High Court held.
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The Allahabad High Court has said that the objective of Uttar Pradesh’s law against religious conversions was to “sustain the spirit of secularism” in the country.
The High Court made the statement in an August 9 order rejecting the bail application of a man named Ajeem, who was accused of having pressured a Hindu woman to convert to Islam and marry him in the Budaun district.
The police booked the man under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, as well as under provisions of the Indian Penal Code related to voluntarily causing hurt, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation.
Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal, in his order, said that the objective behind enforcing the anti-conversion law was “to guarantee religious freedom to all persons which reflects the social harmony and spirit of India”.
The judge noted that the Constitution gives citizens the right to profess, practice and propagate their religion. “However, the individual right to freedom of conscience and religion cannot be extended to construe a collective right to proselytise, the right to religious freedom belongs equally to the person converting and the individual sought to be converted,” he said.
The High Court said that the allegations against Ajeem indicated that a provision of...
