SC allows HP, MP to be made parties
THE BENCH ALSO ALLOWED JAMIAT ULAMA-I-HIND TO BECOME A PARTY ON THE GROUND THAT MUSLIMS ARE BEING HARASSED UNDER THE LAWS
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday permitted an NGO to make Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh as parties to a pending petition challenging the controversial state laws regulating conversions due to interfaith marriages.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde also allowed Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind to become a party to the petition on the ground that a large number of Muslims are being harassed under these laws across the country.
The apex court on January 6 agreed to examine new laws in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand regulating religious conversions due to interfaith marriages.
The bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, however refused to stay the controversial provisions of the laws and issued notices to both the state governments on the petitions.
The pleas, filed by advocate Vishal Thakre and others and an NGO ‘Citizens for Justice and Peace’, have challenged the Constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 and the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 which regulate religious conversions of interfaith marriages.
During the hearing, senior advocate CU Singh appeared for the NGO and sought impleadment of Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh as parties saying they have also framed laws on the lines of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The controversial UP ordinance was cleared by the state Cabinet and given ascent by Governor on November 28.
The ordinance relates to not only inter-faith marriages but all religious conversions and lays down elaborate procedures for any person who wishes to convert to another religion.
The Uttarakhand law entails two-year jail term to any person or persons found guilty of religious conversion through force or “allurement”.
Thakre and others in their plea have said that they are aggrieved by the ordinance which curtails the fundamental rights of the citizens of India which has been provided in the Constitution.