PLEA IN HC CHALLENGES UP ‘LOVE JIHAD’ ORDINANCE

PRAYAGRAJ : A writ petition was filed in the Allahabad high court challenging the constitutional validity of Uttar Pradesh’s new ordinance against forced and dishonest religious conversions that some right wingers term as ‘love jihad’.

An advocate Saurabh Kumar filed the petition on Wednesday stating that the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 was morally and constitutionally invalid.

The petitioner has requested the court to declare the ordinance as ultra vires of the Constitution. Besides, he has requested the court to direct the authorities not to take any action under the ordinance during pendency of the petition.

According to the petition, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had on October 31, 2020 made a statement that his government will bring a law against ‘love jihad’, a term used by right wingers to discredit marriages between Muslim men and Hindu women by describing it as part of a conspiracy to convert Hindu women.

During his public statement, the chief minister referred to a single bench judgment of the Allahabad high court in the case of Priyanshi alias Shamreen and another vs state of UP, in which the court had observed that religious conversion just for the sake of marriage was invalid.

The petitioner pointed out that a few days later a division bench of the high court overruled the single bench verdict, which had disapproved of religious conversions for the sake of marriage in Salamat Ansari &

others vs state of UP & others.

The division bench in this case held that “the right to live with a person of his/her choice, irrespective of religion professed by them, is intrinsic to right to life and personal liberty.” The bench had observed this while holding the single bench judgment as not good in law.

In the light of the division bench ruling, the petitioner has submitted that the impugned ordinance assumes a contrary position to the ruling of the high court in Salamat Ansari case.

The petitioner submitted that the provisions of the ordinance give the state policing powers over a citizen’s choice of life partner or religion and thus, militate against the fundamental rights to individual autonomy, privacy, human dignity and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution (right to life and personal liberty).

The impugned ordinance also requires every religious conversion to be scrutinised and certified by the state, the petition said.

Taking exception to this, the petitioner has submitted that the very concept of forcing an individual to explain and justify a decision, which is closely personal to him/her, before an officer of the state is contrary to the Constitution of India, which ensures such rights.