Prayer: I am not sure what to do.
The Allahabad High Court has observed that although the Indian Constitution gives every citizen the right to follow and spread his religion independently, it does not support forced or fraud conversion.
Justice Vinod Divakar observed an observation, dismissing an FIR against the four accused under the Uttar Pradesh prohibition of the Illegal Religion Act, 2021.
According to the complaint, the accused tried to convert people into Christianity by offering money and free medical care.
The court refused to cancel the case, stating that the allegations were serious and were valid for police investigation.
In its judgment, the court saw, “India’s constitutional structure guarantees the right to religious freedom under Article 25. This article depends on every person independently on the fundamental right to professor, practice and propagation, subject to public order, morality and health. The use of the word ‘freely’ in Article 25 locates religious nature.” “However, the constitution does not support forced or fraud conversion, nor does it mold forced or misleading practices under the guise of religious proliferation,” it said.
The court said that these limitations are necessary to ensure that the practice of religious freedom does not disrupt social clothes or does not endanger personal and communal welfare.
“It is estimated that one religion is naturally better than others, which clearly determines the moral and spiritual superiority of one religion to another. Such perception is fundamentally opposed to the idea of secularism. Indian secularism lies in the principle of equal respect for all religions.
Commenting on the 2021 Act restricting the illegal religious adaptation brought by the Government of Uttar Pradesh, the court said that it was implemented to maintain public order, moral integrity and health in alignment with Article 25 of the Constitution.
“The primary object of the Act is to restrict conversions from one religion to another that marries for wrong boyans, force, unfair effects, forced, fatal, fraud, fraud or marries for the sole purpose of illegal conversion. By targeting such methods, can prevent laws from preventing and manipulation.”
The May 7’s decision also noted a legal issue whether a police officer could be considered a “victim” under Section 4 of the 2021 Act. This section usually allows only the victim or close relatives to file a complaint. The bench clarified that the station house officer can file such an FIR as the law should be read with Indian citizen Surka Sanaanita provisions that allow the police to work in cognizable offenses.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)
