Anti-Conversion Law: SC Agrees To Hear MP Government’s Plea Against HC Order
New Delhi, 3rd January 2022: The Supreme Court (SC), on Tuesday, said that all conversions can not be called illegal. The court said this while agreeing to hear a petition from the Madhya Pradesh (MP) government. The MP government had filed a petition against the High Court’s (HC) order which stayed the prosecution of an interfaith couple who got married without informing the district magistrate.
Issuing notice in the matter, a bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar fixed the date of hearing on 7th February. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought a stay on the High Court’s decision, but the Supreme Court refused. Mehta said that marriages are being used for illegal conversions. The High Court, in its interim order, had asked the state government not to prosecute adults who marry of their own free will under Section 10 of the MP Freedom of Religion Act (MPFRA).
On 14th November, the High Court observed that Section 10 makes it mandatory for citizens to inform the district magistrate about the demand for religious conversion in advance. The court considered it prima facie unconstitutional in the context of its earlier decision. The MPFRA prohibits conversion by inducement, allurement, fear, undue influence, coercion, marriage or any other fraudulent means.
The High Court order came on seven petitions challenging the provisions of APFRA 2021. The petitioners had sought to restrain the State Government from prosecuting any person under this Act. The court had asked the state government to respond to these petitions in three weeks and said that the petitioners can file a reply in 21 days thereafter.
