New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court observed that a conversion of religion by an individual to Islam “can be said to be bona fide if he/she is a major, of sound mind and embraces Islam by his/her freewill and because of his/her faith and belief in the oneness of God (Allah) and prophetic character of Mohammed”.
The court also stated that such religious conversion is considered bona fide when there is a “change of heart” and “honest conviction” in the tenets of a new faith in lieu of the tenets of the original religion.
A single-judge bench of Justice Manju Rani Chauhan made the observations while dismissing a plea moved by Taufik Ahmad, seeking quashing of the entire proceedings under Sections 420, 323, 376, 344 IPC and Section ¾ (1) U.P. Conversion Prevention Act, 2020 based on a compromise between the parties.
In the same hearing, the court also observed that unlawful religious conversion is a serious offence, and that the court cannot quash the proceedings on the basis of a settlement between the parties.
“…it is clear that unlawful religious conversion, particularly when achieved through coercion, fraud, or undue influence, is considered a serious offence, in which the Court cannot quash the proceedings on the basis of settlement between the parties,” the court said.
Since the petition was regarding unlawful religious conversion of a Hindu girl to Islam by a Muslim boy who allegedly kept her captive and beat her, the bench noted, “If a conversion is not inspired by religion feeling and under gone for its own sake, but is resorted merely with object of creating a ground for some claim of right or as a device adopted for the purpose to avoid marriage or to achieve an object without faith and belief in the unity of God (Allah) and Mahommed to be his prophet, the conversion shall not be bonafide”, it observed.
Religious conversion has been an issue of much debate in recent years with many cases of alleged “forced conversions”. There have also been cases when the two parties involved have consented to the conversion but Hindutva forces, on getting information, have violently protested against it.
In November last year, the Supreme Court had said that religious conversion done solely to avail benefits of the reservation policy was akin to a “fraud on the constitution” and “defeats the social ethos of the policy”.
