The Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti, a Hindu religious organisation, has approached the Supreme Court seeking to intervene in a batch of petitions challenging anti-conversion laws enacted by several states.
Filed through advocate Atulesh Kumar, the application requests that the Samiti be added as a party in the proceedings and be permitted to submit written arguments defending the laws. The plea supports the validity of legislations such as the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018, Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2019, and Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021.
The organisation argues that the right to “propagate” a religion under Article 25 of the Constitution does not include the right to convert another person. It maintains that the impugned laws only target conversions induced by “force, fraud, allurement, undue influence, or sham marriage” and do not restrict voluntary conversions based on informed choice.
“The impugned enactments are procedural safeguards narrowly tailored to verify voluntariness and to deter coercion/fraud. They do not impose a prior restraint on bona fide conversion or compel disclosure of faith for any collateral purpose,” the plea states.
In September, the Supreme Court had transferred to itself all petitions pending before various High Courts that questioned the constitutionality of state-level anti-conversion laws. These petitions challenge provisions regulating religious conversions in the context of inter-faith marriages and those prescribing stringent bail conditions and penalties.
Earlier, the apex court had noted that multiple challenges were pending—five before the Allahabad High Court, seven before the Madhya Pradesh High Court, two each before the Gujarat and Jharkhand High Courts, three before the Himachal Pradesh High Court, and one each before the Karnataka and Uttarakhand High Courts.
The states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had also moved the Supreme Court against interim orders by their respective High Courts that stayed certain provisions of their anti-conversion laws.
Meanwhile, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has filed petitions opposing these laws, contending that they were enacted to “harass inter-faith couples” and compel individuals to disclose their religious identity, violating their fundamental right to privacy under Article 21.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear the consolidated batch of petitions on the constitutional validity of the anti-conversion statutes later this year.
