On July 31, Allahabad High Court rejected the bail plea of one Javed alias Jabid Ansari and raised strong objection to the conversion of the majority (Hindu) population in the country. The court said, “If a person from majority converts his/her religion after getting insulted, then the Country becomes weak, and the destructive powers benefit from it.”
“If a person converts his/her religion after getting insulted, then the Country becomes weak and the destructive powers benefit from it”: #AllahabadHighCourt
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) July 31, 2021
#UPLoveJihadLaw#Conversion pic.twitter.com/N9gZ3cu9mj
Judge Shekhar Kumar Yadav further added that a person leaves his/her house if he/she is neglected or insulted. Similarly, if someone is getting insulted in his/her religion, they have the right to convert.
However, he raised strong objections to conversion done only for the purpose of marriage.
‘There is no place for greed, fear or religious fanaticism’
While rejecting the bail plea, Justice Yadav observed that religion is a way of living. India believes in multiple religions, and “there is no place for religious fanaticism, greed or fear in the country. The constitution of India does not allow conversions based on any of these factors.” He cited a case of one Anjali alias Noorjahan Begham where Allahabad Court denied to recognize conversion for the sake of marriage. In the current case, he said it is clear that the conversion took place for the sake of marriage that too against the wish of the victim. Notably, while rejecting the bail plea, the court also observed that Javed was already married.
Indian constitution does not allow such forced religious conversion, the court observed.
The arguments over Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act
The defence argued that the alleged crime took place before the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act was enacted in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Thus, a case against Javed cannot be made under the said law. However, the court rejected the argument stating that while the conversion happened on November 18, 2020, the Nikahnama was read on November 28, 2020. “All the circumstances point towards the fact that the conversion took place for the sake of marriage. Thus, the bail plea of the accused is rejected. In case the bail is granted, it will give more power to the religious fanatics who convert poor and women by threatening or luring them.”
The court cited the recent mass conversion that was unearthed in UP where Divyang, poor and women were converted.
The court said, “We come across news of conversions of poor, women, and deaf after brainwashing them. The worst thing is they receive funds from outside the country to force people to convert to other religions to weaken the country.”
The case of abduction and conversion of 21-year-old
On November 17, 2020, a 20-year-old woman was abducted from Jalesar Market, Etah, Uttar Pradesh. She had gone for shopping at the market but did not come back. The family tried finding her but failed. They filed a complaint with the police on November 25, 2020.
Later it was found that she was seen with Javed and his associates at around 7 AM on November 17. In the complaint, the father of the victim stated that his daughter was lured by Javed into conversion. However, Javed had denied the allegations and said the woman converted to Islam on her own.
The victim, in her statement in front of the magistrate, stated that she was drugged and abducted from the market. The next day she was taken to Karkarduma court, where only lawyers were present. She was forced to sign some documents that were written in Urdu. She did not know where they took them as she was kept in a drugged state. The documents that were in Urdu were Nikahnama, and she could not understand what she was signing. The Police recovered the woman on December 22, 2020.
