The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind after it submitted that a spate of laws across several States that criminalise religious conversion through marriage have become a source of harassment of Muslim youths.
“Why do you need to be heard?” Chief justice of India Sharad A. Bobde asked advocate Ejaz Maqbool, for the Jamiat.
“A large number of Muslims are being harassed all across the country,” Mr. Maqbool replied.
The Bench permitted the Jamiat to intervene in the case.
The court also allowed NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace to amend its plea and include the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2019 and the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance, 2020 in the list of statutes under challenge.
In an earlier hearing, the Bench did not stay the implementation of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition Of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, and the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018, despite fervent pleas made by petitioners that “rampaging mobs are lifting off people in the middle of wedding ceremonies”, buoyed by the enactment of these laws.
“What we have here is multiple States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh enacting these laws which are absolutely horrifying. They require the prior permission to marry,” senior advocate C.U. Singh, for a petitioner, submitted then.
Mr. Singh had argued that the burden of proof was on the people who marry to show they a
were not doing so to get converted. He said, “Those who are found guilty under these laws stare at a 10-year prison sentence. The offences are non-bailable. We are getting reports that people are being picked up in the middle of weddings on suspicion of religious conversion.”
Similar petitions filed by advocates Vishal Thakre and A.S. Yadav and researcher Pranvesh said these laws were against public policy and society at large.
“These laws will create fear in society and become a potent tool in the hands of bad elements in society to falsely implicate anyone. A grave injustice will be done by the ordinances... They will create a chaotic situation in society,” their petitions said.
