Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to declare the religious conversion laws of five States as unconstitutional, saying they bring the personal decision of an individual to adopt another faith under state scrutiny.
“The scrutiny by the state of a personal decision to convert is a grave assault on personal liberty of an individual and violates Articles 21 (right to dignity, privacy) and 25 (freedom of religion) of the Constitution,” the Jamiat, represented by advocate Ejaz Maqbool, submitted.
The writ petition challenged the legality of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition Of Unlawful Conversion Of Religion Act, 2021; the Uttarakhand Freedom Of Religion Act, 2018; the Himachal Pradesh Freedom Of Religion Act, 2019; the Madhya Pradesh Freedom Of Religion Act, 2021; and the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021.
These Acts mandate a person proposing to convert or a priest who would preside over the ceremony to take prior permission from the local District Magistrate. Besides, the burden of proof is on the convert to prove that he or she was not forced or “allured” to change faith.
“These provisions force a person to disclose his faith and thereby invade into the privacy of a person… The compulsory disclosure of one’s religion in any form amounts to violation of their right to manifest his/her beliefs. Therefore, such disclosure is unconstitutional,” the petition said.
The petition further said the definition of ‘allurement’ or what constitutes allurement is vague. The Acts have said that any form of allurement given to convert would amount to exercising “undue influence” over a person to change faith and render the conversion illegal. The definition of ‘undue influence’ was also broad.
“The phrase ‘undue influence’ is too wide and vague and can be used to prosecute any person in a stronger position vis-a-vis the converted person. The extremely broad nature of the doctrine of ‘undue influence’ may be used to prosecute elders, parents and other such persons who wield a degree of influence over a person,” the petition said.
On the other hand, the broad construction of the phrase would give enough room for disgruntled family members to harass the convert.
The Jamiat said the five statutes had a “chilling effect” on the right to profess and propagate one’s religion, enshrined in Article 25 of the Constitution.
