On Thursday, the Gujarat High Court denied the state government’s request for a reversal of its previous ruling halting the implementation of section 5 of the new anti-conversion law. Religious priests must obtain prior approval from the district magistrate before converting anybody from one faith to another, according to Section 5 of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021.
In addition, the person who has been converted must “sent an indication” to the district magistrate in the specified form. After hearing the arguments presented by state Advocate General Kamal Trivedi, a division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Biren Vaishnav concluded, “We do not see grounds to make any modifications in the order given by us on August 19.”
On behalf of the state government, Mr Trivedi told the court that section 5 of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021 has been in place since the original legislation was passed in 2003 and that it has nothing to do with marriage. He sought to persuade the justices that a stay on section 5 would effectively stop applying the whole statute and that no one would ask the authorities for permission to convert before doing so.
Read also: Gujarat HC fines woman for ‘frivolous’ petition against daughter-in-law
Sections 3, 4, 4A to 4C, 5, 6 and 6A of the amended Act were stayed on August 19 pending further hearings, saying they “shall not operate merely because a marriage is solemnized by a person of one religion with a person of another religion without force, by allurement, or by fraudulent means, and such marriages cannot be termed as marriages for the purposes of unlawful conversion.”
Section 5 does not include the word “marriage,” according to Mr Trivedi, and instead deals with obtaining authorization from the district magistrate for conversion, whether before or after marriage or even in instances where there is no marriage. “They will claim that the high court has granted a stay of section 5’s requirements. It’s designed for situations where everyone is willing to help. The entire law has been stayed as a result of this ruling “Mr Trivedi said this while pleading with the bench to lift the stay on section 5 by correcting the prior order.
“If someone approaches the priest under that clause, the priest is required to get permission. It’s about legal conversion. Why should a part dealing with legal conversion be postponed?” Mr Trivedi enquired. On the other hand, the bench told Mr Trivedi that it is his understanding that the court has stayed the portion about prior authorization for all types of conversions.
Read also: SC upholds Gujarat HC verdict on cooperative societies as state subject
“While dismissing the state government’s appeal, Chief Justice Nath added. On June 15, the BJP-led state government of Gujarat notified the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021, which criminalizes coercive or fraudulent religious conversion via marriage”. BJP regimes in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have also passed similar legislation. The Gujarat branch of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind filed a plea before the HC last month, saying that parts of the state’s new law’s modified portions were unconstitutional.
