Supreme Court: In a writ petition filed against forced religious conversion the division bench of M.R. Shah and Hima Kohli said that the issue with respect to the alleged conversion of religion, if it is found to be correct and true, is a very serious issue which may ultimately affect the security of the nation and violate citizens’ right to freedom of conscience and right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion.
The petitioner has submitted that the forced religious conversion by intimidation, threatening, luring through gifts and monetary benefits is a very serious problem and it violates Articles 14, 21 and 25 of the Constitution of India.
The Court said that the Union Government should take their stand and file a reply on or before 22-11-2022, that what further steps can be taken by them to curb such forced conversion, maybe by force, allurement or fraudulent means.
The matter will next be taken up on 28-11-2022.
[Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 1596, decided on 14-11-2022]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, Advocate- On -Record Ashwani Kumar Dubey, Advocates, for the Petitioner(s);
Tushar Mehta, Additional Solicitor General Jayant K. Sud, Advocate Kanu Agrawal, Advocate Pratyush Srivastava, Advocate Navanjay Mahapatra, Advocate Kartik Jasra, Advocate Randeep Sachdeva, Advocate- On -Record Mukesh Kumar Maroria, Solicitor General, for the Respondent(s).