Religious freedom doesn’t include fundamental right to convert, Centre tells SC

The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the right to freedom of religion enshrined under Article 25 of the Constitution does not include a fundamental right to convert people to a particular religion, not in the least if it is done through fraud, deception, coercion or allurement.

The Centre’s submission came in response to a plea by lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay. “The Union of India is cognizant of the gravity and the seriousness of the issue raised in the present writ petition. It is submitted that such enactments are necessary for protecting cherished rights of vulnerable sections of the society including women and economically and socially backward classes,” the Centre’s affidavit stated.

Upadhyay’s plea had sought to declare religious conversions by means of fraud, threat, or monetary benefits as violative of fundamental rights. The Supreme Court asked the Centre to get information from all states on the steps taken by them in this regard. “This is a very serious issue. There cannot be any forced conversion & that’s what we are concerned of,” a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar said.

The Centre said in its affidavit that Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Haryana already have a legislation to curb this practice.

Earlier, the bench had said that everyone has the right to freedom of religion but not by forced conversion, which it termed “a very dangerous thing”. It added that such practices might affect the security of the nation.Upadhyay’s plea was filed against the backdrop of the suicide of 17-year-old Lavanya in Tamil Nadu.

While deferring hearing on the matter to December 5, the court asked the Centre to find out information on what the states have done in the matter. The bench said instead of issuing notice to each state, it was asking the Centre to collate info.