New Delhi, Dec 3 (UNI) The Gujarat government on Saturday said that it supported the Centre's stand on forced 'religious conversions', and called for a national law to ban forced conversions.
"It is submitted that the right to freedom of religion does not include a fundamental right to convert other people to a particular religion. The said right certainly does not include the right to convert an individual through fraud, deception, coercion, allurement or other such means," the Gujarat government in its 28-page affidavit, filed before the Supreme Court, revealed.
The affidavit further said that the meaning and purport of the word 'propagate' falling under Article 25 of the Constitution was discussed and debated in great detail in the constituent assembly and the inclusion of the said word was passed by the constituent assembly only after the clarification that the fundamental right under Article 25 would not include the right to convert.
The Gujarat government also said that its law -- passed in 2003 and strengthened in 2021-- contained precautions to ensure that the process of renouncing one religion and adopting another religion is genuine, voluntary and bona fide and at the time free from any force, allurement and fraudulent means.
Maintaining that the right to freedom of religion does not include a fundamental right to convert other people to a particular religion, the state government said, the High Court, however, stayed the operation of Section 5 of the Act of 2003, which is in fact an enabling provision for a person to get converted from one religion to another religion on his own violation.
"At the same time, the exercise of taking prior permission also obviates the forcible conversion and protects the "freedom of conscience" guaranteed to all the citizens of the country," it added.
The state government filed its response before the Supreme Court, in a PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay in which the court had earlier expressed its deep anguish over forceful religious conversion by observing that such conversions affect the security of the nation and violate citizens' right to freedom of conscience and right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion.
The Gujarat government said the 2003 law is a validly constituted legislation, which is holding the field since last 18 years, so as to maintain the public order within Gujarat by protecting the cherished rights of vulnerable sections of the society including women and economically and socially backward classes.
However, the High Court failed to appreciate that by staying the operation of section 5 of the Act of 2003, the whole purpose of the Act effectively stands frustrated, it added.
It said the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2021 was passed to strengthen the 2003 law to further prohibit and curb forced religious conversions.
However, the provisions of the law was stayed by the High Court by orders on August 19, 2021 and August 26, 2021 even in cases where marriage is solemnized by a person of one religion with a person of another religion without force or by allurement or by fraudulent means.
The Gujarat government under the BJP, in the affidavit, cleared its stance that 'the right to freedom of religion does not include a fundamental right to convert other people to a particular religion'.
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