NEW DELHI: In a ruling on a petition against forced religious conversions, the Delhi High Court said that everyone has the right to choose and practise any religion they want, and that this is a constitutional right.
"If someone is compelled to convert, that's a different issue," a bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Tushar Rao Gedela said, "but to convert is a person's prerogative." The bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, in which she asked the Supreme Court to order the Centre and the Delhi government to prohibit religious conversion through intimidation, threats, deception, or "by using black magic and superstition."
The petitioner was questioned by the bench during the hearing regarding the basis of his plea. The bench said, "You have given three Supreme Court judgements and the rest is your averment."
When the bench inquired for data on the petitioner's claims of widespread conversion, he replied he had it from social media platforms.
The court responded as follows: "Social media isn't the same as data. It has the ability to be transformed. Things that were done 20 years ago are depicted as if they were done yesterday." Upadhyay argued in the PIL that Article 14 guarantees equality before the law and equal protection under the law.
Section 144 imposed in Odisha after reports of religious conversion
Supreme Court refuses to give legal recognition to marriage certificate issued by Arya Samaj
No relief from court to AAP MLA, Delhi Police has declared Amanatullah as 'BC'