Conversion ordinance: Don’t take HC ‘lightly’, top court tells UP govt

The state government, got adjournments from the high court in the last two hearings citing the pendency of the similar petitions before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a plea by the Uttar Pradesh government seeking to stop the Allahabad high court from examining the state’s contentious anti-conversion law, and said that no constitutional court should be taken “lightly”.

A Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde, made it clear that it will not transfer the petitions against the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, to itself, but would like the high court to rule on the validity of the law. (HT Archive)

A Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde, made it clear that it will not transfer the petitions against the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, to itself, but would like the high court to rule on the validity of the law.

“If the Allahabad high court is going to hear it and decide it quickly, why should we interfere? Why should we transfer the case here? We would like the advantage of the decision by the high court,” observed the bench, which also included justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, clearing the decks for the high court to proceed suitably when the matter next comes up for hearing before it on February 6.

Senior advocate PS Narasimha, representing the UP government, had requested the bench to transfer the two petitions