Allahabad HC Overrules The Order That Held Conversion Just For Marriage Unacceptable

The Allahabad High Court on Monday ruled against its previous judgment which said that religious conversion “just for the purpose of marriage” is not acceptable. The bench which was chaired by Justices Vivek Agarwal and Pankaj Naqvi also said that “ Right to live with a person of his/her choice irrespective of religion professed by them, is intrinsic to right to life and personal liberty." They further added, “We fail to understand that if the law permits two persons even of the same sex to live together peacefully then neither any individual nor a family nor even the state can have an objection to the relationship of two major individuals who out of their own free will are living together,"  quoted the Live Law.

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The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath had referred to the previous judgment made on November 1 which stated that conversion just for the purpose is unacceptable, as the basis for a new law that would criminalise ‘love jihad’. Soon after, other states like Haryana, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka started considering to formulate this new law. However, now the court has essentially ordered that the right of two individuals to live together cannot be legislated by the government and that it doesn't matter whether a conversion is valid or not.

The Division Bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Pankaj Naqvi while observing the judgments said that “None of these judgments dealt with the issue of life and liberty of two matured individuals in choosing a partner or their right to freedom of choice.”

In the Noor Jahan Begum case of 2014, the Allahabad High Court had excused a cluster of writ petitions recorded by a couple to look for security as they had gotten married after the woman changed over from Hinduism to Islam and then performed him nikah or marriage. The court at that point asked "Regardless of whether the transformation of the religion of a Hindu young lady at the case of a Muslim kid, with no information on Islam or confidence and faith in Islam and just with the end goal of marriage is substantial quoted Scroll.

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Arunima Sharma is an intern with SheThePeople.TV