Allahabad High Court has dismissed the petition filed by eight Hindu-Muslim couples for protection of life. The court noted that their marriages were not in accordance with the provisions of Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act.
Concerned about the protection and unwanted intrusions in their matrimonial lives, the couples had approached the court through separate petitions. However, all of the petitions were dismissed between January 10-16.
Justice Saral Srivastava noted that these were the interfaith marriages and were not in compliance with the law as the anti-conversion law was not followed.
“In such a view of the fact, the relief prayed for by the petitioner cannot be granted. Consequently, writ petition is dismissed. However, it is open to the petitioners to prefer fresh writ petition in case they solemnise marriage after following the due procedure of law,” the court ordered.
The anti-conversion law was passed in 2021. It restricts unlawful conversion of an individual from one religion to another through fraudulent means, misrepresentation, force, coercion, undue influence, inducement, or allurement.
The eight cases presented before the High Court included five Muslim men married to Hindu women and three Hindu men married to Muslim women. Pertinently, all these cases which challenge the constitutional validity of anti-conversion laws enacted by Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, remain unresolved.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Arsalan Nazir | 
