Not all conversions are illegal: SC to MP govt

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought a stay on the high court order but the apex court refused to pass any direction to that effect.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday told the Madhya Pradesh government that not all religious conversions are “illegal” and refused to stay an order of the Madhya Pradesh high court that restrained the state government from prosecuting interfaith couples who get married without informing the district magistrate.

The SC has now posted the matter for hearing on February 7. (PTI)

Dealing with a challenge filed by the state government against the high court verdict on November 14 last year, the bench of justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar said, “All conversions cannot be illegal.” It has now posted the matter for hearing on February 7.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought a stay on the high court order but the apex court refused to pass any direction to that effect.

The high court, in an interim order, held Section 10 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021 to be unconstitutional and prevented the state from taking any coercive action against people who failed to comply with this provision. Section 10 held that any person desiring to get converted should give prior intimation of such conversion to the district magistrate and attest that the conversion is happening of his/her own free will, without any force, coercion, undue influence, or allurement. Any violation of this rule carried a punishment of minimum three years in prison and a fine of at least ₹50,000. The punishment could even extend to five years in jail.

Mehta pressed for a stay, saying: “We can’t shut our eyes to what is happening in society. Marriages are being used for conversion. There is no prohibition against marriage or conversion. Staying this order will mean there is no allurement.”

The bench told Mehta that granting a stay will amount to virtually allowing the appeal. “If we lift the stay penal consequences will follow,” the bench said, while issuing notice on the appeal and the application for stay. The Court posted the matter for February 7.

Mehta termed it a national issue and said, “We generally do not persist. This is a national issue. Let them intimate the magistrate. What objection can they have to this?” The court said that any order to be passed in this regard will be considered on the next date of hearing.

The HC order came on a bunch of petitions which challenged the 2021 law imposing restrictions on people getting converted. It further required religious priests or people who intend to organise conversion to give 60-day prior intimation to the district magistrate.

The state, in its appeal, said that it received several complaints from parents about forced interfaith marriage which led to disturbance in public order. The state appeal even cited the recent order passed in November by the top court in a petition on curbing forced conversion where the top court asked Centre to take strong action against such incidents, terming it to be a serious matter that may affect the security of the country. “What is freedom for one is freedom for the other in equal measure and there can therefore be no such thing as a fundamental right to convert any person to one’s own religion,” the state government appeal said