New Delhi: The court cannot be a mute spectator if the political executive is not taking steps to check illegal religious conversion due to appeasement and vote bank politics, a petitioner has told the Delhi High Court.
The petitioner, in an additional affidavit filed on Tuesday, said religious conversion by coercive or deceptive means amounts to injustice and exploitation.
A bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Tushar Rao Gedela is scheduled to hear on Wednesday a plea by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking direction to the Centre and the Delhi government to prohibit religious conversion by intimidating, threatening, and deceivingly luring people with gifts and monetary benefits or by using black magic and superstition.
The petitioner’s affidavit, which was filed pursuant to the high court’s earlier direction to place before it some instances of forced conversion, said the right to religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution is not an absolute right but subject to public order, health and morality.
Therefore, religious conversion by using miracles, superstition and black magic is not protected under Article 25. However, due to outdated ineffective colonial IPC, foreign funded Individuals and NGOs are converting EWS-BPL citizens to foreign religions by intimidating, threatening, deceiving, luring through gifts and monetary benefits, it said.
The affidavit claimed Delhi has become the safest place for foreign funded individuals, NGOs and missionaries who have established their offices in Okhla, Jamia Nagar, Balta House and Kali Bari Marg.
Petitioner submits that this court can’t be a mute spectator if the political executive is not taking steps due to appeasement and vote bank politics, it said.
It noted Article 26 gives freedom to manage religious affairs to every religious denomination but it is not an absolute right and subject to public order, health and morality.
However, due to Centre and State’s inaction, many mosques and churches have become the epicentre of black magic, superstition and religious hypocrisy and the ultimate purpose is to convert economically weaker scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
“Likewise, many maulvis and pastors are converting poor people by intimidating, threatening, deceiving and luring through gifts and monetary benefits, the affidavit said.
Upadhyay said he has filed an RTI application and requested the Home Ministry to provide information relating to religious conversion in Delhi but has not received a reply till date.
He claimed fraudulent religious conversion has become normal activity in the national capital but generally Delhi Police chose to look the other way.
The high court had earlier said if the government was conscious of the issue of forced religious conversion, it can frame a law and that the court cannot give such a direction to the legislature.
It had said it can only make recommendations to the government but even for that to happen the petitioner has to first make out a prima facie case.
The petition has stated that religious conversion by the carrot and the stick and by hook or crook not only offends Articles 14, 15, 21, and 25 but is also against the principles of secularism, which is an integral part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
The Centre’s counsel had contended it was nobody’s case that conversions were not happening and that they were glaring but said let the petitioner put his claims on an affidavit and bring some material before the court.
The court had earlier also said there should be sufficient material available to substantiate the claims of forced religious conversion and that they cannot be based on social media data where there were instances of morphed photographs being circulated.
It had said forced religious conversion was an important issue with great ramifications and wanted to examine it deeper before forming an opinion or issuing notice to the government on the petition.
The petition has claimed the Centre and the Delhi government have failed to control the menace of black magic, superstition, and deceitful religious conversion though it’s their duty under Article 51A.
The plea has said Article 114 of the Constitution ensures equality before law and equal protection of laws but there are different laws on conversion across different states.
“Presently, religious conversion by intimidating, threatening, and deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits is an offence in Ghaziabad but not in adjoining East Delhi. Similarly, religious conversion by using black magic and superstition is an offence in Gurugram but not in adjoining West Delhi,” the plea has said.
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