New Delhi: The Supreme Court has barred the usage or citation of controversial remarks of an Allahabad high court judge who had commented that if conversion to Christianity was allowed to go on, the majority population of the country, meaning Hindus, would become a minority one day.
A bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Manoj Misra on September 27 passed the direction against the high court judge’s observations, while granting bail to a person accused of unlawfully converting people to Christianity in Hamirpur, Uttar Pradesh.
On July 1, while rejecting bail to the accused person, Kailash, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal of the Allahabad high court had said, “If this process is allowed to be carried out, the majority population of this country would be in minority one day, and such religious congregation should be immediately stopped where the conversion is taking place and changing religion of citizen of India.”
“It is against the Constitutional mandate of Article 25 of the Constitution of India which does not provide for religious conversion, it only provides freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion. It has come into notice of this Court in several cases that unlawful activity of conversion of people of SC/ST castes and other castes including economically poor persons into Christianity is being done at rampant pace throughout the State of Uttar Pradesh,” the Allahabad high court had added.
Justice Agarwal’s blanket remarks created headlines and earlier this month were cited by an NIA ATS Court in Lucknow while it convicted 16 persons in a mass conversion case and sentenced 12 of them to life in jail.
The NIA ATS court judge Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi used Justice Agarwal’s observations in the Kailash case to draw attention to “terrifying” consequences of illegal conversion on the “demographic balance” of the country.
‘Observations shall not be cited in any other case’
While challenging his bail rejection by the high court in the Supreme Court, the accused Kailash also prayed that the general observations made by Justice Agarwal on July 1 be expunged.
Kailash submitted in the apex court that Justice Agarwal’s remarks “are jeopardising the administration of justice in the lower courts.”
Kailash further contended that the high court judge’s “sweeping allegations against a specific religious community were uncalled for and inappropriate” and could potentially influence the judicial proceedings and erode public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary.
The Supreme Court granted bail to Kailash. While disposing off the special leave petition filed by him, a bench of CJI Chandrachud and Justice Misra noted,”…We clarify that the general observations made by the high court had no bearing on the facts of the present case and were, therefore, not required for the disposal of the case. The observations, therefore, shall not be cited in any other case or proceeding in the high court or in any other court.”
Kailash was in jail from May 2023 after he was booked under sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. Kailash was accused of unlawfully trying to convert a mentally unwell man to Christianity after taking him to attend a religious gathering in Delhi under the garb of getting him treated.
The FIR was lodged in May 2023 by the alleged victim Ramphal’s sister Ramkali Prajapati, five months after the alleged incident of unlawful conversion was said to have taken place.
In his defence, Kailash said that Ramkali had sought his help to find her missing brother, following which he helped her for a “considerable time.” But when all efforts to find Ramphal proved futile, Kailash refused to accompany Ramkali any further.
This rejection “sparked a sense of vengeance” in Ramkali, leading her to lodge a false case against him, claimed Kailash in his petition in the apex court.
