Frame Anti-conversion Act: HC to state

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 21 

The Uttarakhand High Court (Nainital) while hearing a case on inter-faith marriage on Monday made suggestions to the state government to take steps to prevent religious conversions by framing an anti-conversion Act. 

The single Bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma, while hearing a case on inter-faith marriage of a couple hailing from Rudrapur said the state government should consider drafting an Act on the lines of the Freedom of Religion Act prevalent in Himachal Pradesh (2006) and Madhya Pradesh (1968) to prevent the tendency of religious conversion for the sake of marriage.

The court also noted that it’s job was not to give suggestions to the government, but these were in the interest of society, The tendency to convert only for the purpose of marriage was not good for the society as a whole,” observed the court. 

The court made these observations while hearing a habeas corpus plea, filed by Rudrapur resident Girish Kumar Sharma accusing Adil Hussain Ansari alias Atul Sharma, of hiding his daughter on the pretext of marriage and that she should be presented before the court. On the orders of the court, the girl was brought before the court yesterday, where she expressed her desire to be with her parents.