No divorce as Woman fails to prove conversion

A Muslim woman who claimed to have converted to Hinduism failed to secure divorce and a maintenance order from the Delhi High Court under the Hindu Marriage Act after she failed to prove that she had changed her religion.

A Muslim woman who claimed to have converted to Hinduism failed to secure divorce and a maintenance order from the Delhi High Court under the Hindu Marriage Act after she failed to prove that she had changed her religion.

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The court said the right will be available when both the parties were Hindus and they continued to embrace the religion at the time of presentation of the petition in the court. Dismissing Rehana alias Sushma Sharma’s petition (name changed),

Justice Kailash Gambhir expressed concern at the reason for which people change religious in the present day when once it was only to attain spiritual advancement.

“These days, religious conversions are being increasingly made for anything but the primary reason for conversion —spiritual advancement”.

“The basic focus to convert from one religion to another is to seek God from another platform but unfortunately today it is increasingly being done to reap benefits and in cases like the present one,” the court said.

The woman and the man Sourav (name changed) were working as a clerk and an officer, respectively. She claimed they married in December 3, 1988 at an Arya Samaj Mandir, according to Hindu rites. She said she was seeking divorce owing to certain acts of cruelty and also alleged that he had married another woman.

Sourav on his part denied she had converted and also denied they were married.