Gwalior (MP): The Gwalior Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled that religious institutions cannot convert a person on their own and an application has to be submitted to the concerned District Collector. The court passed the judgment while hearing a plea over the alleged conversion of a Muslim woman at an Arya Samaj temple in Ghaziabad to marry her Hindu boyfriend.
The court has declared the marriage of Rahul and Hina to be void. The High Court said that no religious institution has the right to convert a young man or a woman to another religion. This can be done only after duly applying to the collector, it said. The High Court has directed that the woman currently living in Nari Niketan should be freed within a week.
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The court said that the girl is an adult and has the choice to go to her parents or her boyfriend. The girl had reportedly obtained a marriage certificate from the Arya Samaj temple after converting to Hinduism. Later, the girl's family members filed a case against the man. The couple was taken into custody by the police, but the girl did not agree to go with her parents after which she was sent to Nari Niketan.
