A fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking stringent directions to the Centre and State governments to control deceitful religious conversions. The application, moved by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, comes in the wake of serious allegations involving forced conversion and sexual harassment at a multinational corporation’s office in Nashik.
The plea emphasizes that while Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees the freedom of religion, this right is not absolute and does not encompass a fundamental right to convert others through fraud, coercion, or industrial exploitation.
The legal intervention follows reports from Nashik, where eight female employees at a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) office levelled charges of sexual harassment and forced religious conversion. These allegations served as the immediate catalyst for the application, which argues that such practices pose a “serious threat to sovereignty, secularism, democracy, and liberty.”
The petitioner contends that deceitful conversion has become a menace to national integration, dignity, and fraternity, requiring immediate judicial and executive intervention.
The plea clarifies the boundaries of Article 25 of the Constitution, which provides for the freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice, and propagate religion.
“The expression does not mean that every person is free to do whatever they wish in the name of religion,” the plea stated. It further argued that the right to propagate is subject to “reasonable restrictions” related to public order, morality, and health. The petition explicitly notes that the Right to Freedom of Religion “does not carry the right to convert others through fraud, force, coercion or cheating.”
Beyond general directions to curb conversions, the petitioner has requested the following specific judicial orders:
- Stringent Measures: Directions to the Centre and States to take “tough steps” to control fraudulent religious conversions.
- Special Courts: The establishment of special courts dedicated to handling cases related to religious conversion to ensure a focused legal process.
- Consecutive Sentencing: A declaration that sentences for deceitful religious conversion should run consecutively rather than concurrently, effectively increasing the total time served for multiple offenses.
This application has been filed as part of Upadhyay’s pending petition on the same subject. In 2023, the Supreme Court observed that religious conversion is a “serious issue” that should not be politicized. At that time, the bench had sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani to deliberate on the matter.
