New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to January 9 the hearing of a plea seeking direction to the Centre and states to take stringent steps to control fraudulent religious conversion by "intimidation, threatening, deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits".
The court was hearing a plea filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking direction to the Centre and states to take tough steps to control fraudulent religious conversion. A bench of Justices M R Shah and S Ravindra Bhat deferred the matter to January 9 as the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was not available.
During the brief hearing, senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for one of the parties, sought to be impleaded in the case and said there are some very serious and vexatious allegations against religions. "Please allow us to be impleaded. Allegations are really sad! Today, your lordships may consider," Dave said.
Following it, the Supreme Court asked Advocate and BJP member Ashwini Upadhyay to remove "scurrilous statements" made against the minority community in his PIL against the forceful religious conversion. Dave told the court that the statements were extremely distasteful against other religions and Upadhyay had a hate speech case registered against him as well.
"These allegations that certain religions are perpetuating rapes and murders, these averments should not be on your lordships file. Your lordships should ask them to withdraw," said Dave. "It sends terrible signals to the minority communities in the country that the Supreme Court is allowing this to go uncontested," Dave added.
Also read: We are not against religious conversion but conversion by force: SC tells Centre
The Court asked senior advocate Arvind Datar appearing for Upadhyay to ensure that such statements are removed. During the hearing, the court was also informed that some Christian organisations also want to intervene in the matter.
Asserting the purpose of charity should not be conversion, the top court had earlier reaffirmed that forced religious conversion is a "serious issue" and against the Constitution.
Forced religious conversion may pose a danger to national security and impinge on the religious freedom of citizens, the top court had said recently and asked the Centre to step in and make sincere efforts to tackle the "very serious" issue. The court had warned a "very difficult situation" will emerge if proselytisation through deception, allurement and intimidation is not stopped.
Earlier, the Gujarat government had told the top court that freedom of religion does not include the right to convert others and requested the top court to vacate a high court stay on the provision of a state law that mandates prior permission of the district magistrate for conversion through marriage. The top court had on September 23 sought responses from the Centre and others to the plea.
Upadhyay has submitted in his plea that forced religious conversion is a nationwide problem which needs to be tackled immediately. "The injury caused to the citizens is extremely large because there is not even one district which is free of religious conversion by 'hook and crook'," the plea submitted.
"Incidents are reported every week throughout the country where conversion is done by intimidating, threatening, deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits and also by using black magic, superstition, miracles but Centre and States have not taken stringent steps to stop this menace," said the plea filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey.
