New Delhi: A rationalist body from Kerala has filed an application to intervene in a public interest litigation on religious conversions that the Supreme Court has held maintainable, saying that it spreads untruths and hysteria on forced mass conversions.
A day ago, on December 5, a division bench of Justice M.R. Shah and Justice C.T. Ravikumar refused to entertain interventions that sought the dismissal of the instant petition by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, who moved the court against alleged fraudulent religious conversions. The bench asserted that the issue at hand was “very serious” and said conversion by allurement, by offering food grains and medicines, was wrong.
LiveLaw has reported that the Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham organisation stated that it is deeply concerned about fraternity and brotherhood of all people regardless of their faith. Founded in 1969, the organisation is part of the state’s rationalist movement which aims to follow the legacy of iconic social reformer Narayana Guru.
The organisation has called Upadhyay’s PIL as one based on “social media forwards, YouTube videos and WhatsApp chats.”
It has also said that there is no credible factual basis of the claims made in it and said that the claims made are “exaggerated and alarmist”. The organisation also called Upadhyay a “prominent member of a faith-based political party” in its application.
Upadhyay, who was arrested over a case of hate speech against Muslims in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, is a prolific petitioner on religious and other matters. Along with a challenge against the Places of Worship Act, Upadhyay had also filed five separate petitions through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, seeking uniform grounds and procedure for divorce, adoption and guardianship for all communities across the country.
“This is the fourth identical plea by Upadhyay. SG [Solicitor General Tushar Mehta] need not support the petitioner. This is a plea which is heavily exaggerated. No material has been shown that there’s an alarming situation. Similar petitions were withdrawn in the past without the liberty to approach again,” lawyer Chander Uday Singh told the apex court for the for the Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham group yesterday.
The group also noted in its application that previous petitions filed by Upadhyay on the same topic had been denied. One was dismissed in 2021 and a request for permission to make a representation before the Law Commission on the ‘forced conversion’ issue was also denied, according to LiveLaw. The Delhi high court also refused to entertain a similar petition in 2020.
“The organisation therefore contends that Upadhyay is indulging in forum-shopping by trying his luck before different benches,” LiveLaw reported the application as having said.
The group also cites a Pew Research Centre report on India’s religious composition which shows that in 2020, very few out of the surveyed adults in the country have switched religions.