Shivangi Prakash-
Published on: August 23, 2021, at 12:29 IST
The Gujarat High Court found that the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021, prima facie breaches Article 21 of the Constitution, i.e. the Right to Life.
On a petition submitted by Muhammed Hakim, a division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Biren Vaishnav issued a judgement challenging the provisions of the statute prohibiting coercive conversion by marriage.
The anti-love jihad bill passed the state Assembly on April 1 following a day of debate, and Governor Acharya Devvrat gave his consent on May 22. It was publicly notified on June 15.
The bill was defeated by the Congress, with its MLA Imran Khedawala claiming that it mainly targets the Muslim community.
The High Court, in a ruling dated August 19, stated that the law effectively bars any conversion based on marriage.
According to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Shafin Jahan vs Ashokan case, a conversion cannot be regarded illegal just because it is done for the purpose of marriage.
Furthermore, the law places the couple legitimately entering into an interfaith marriage in grave peril because the burden of evidence has been passed to them.
“Marriage itself and a consequential conversion is deemed as an unlawful conversion attracting penal provisions“, the Court said after perusing the provisions.
The statute also lays the burden of proof on those who enter into interfaith marriages, according to the Court.
The Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act of 2003, the Court said, was enacted to prohibit conversion by force, allurement, or deception. Conversions caused by marriage by force, allurement, or fraudulent methods are now covered by the Act, thanks to a 2021 amendment.
The Court said that the interpretation advanced by the Advocate General that the Act only deals with conversions after inter-faith marriage by way of allurement, force or by fraudulent means “May not be understood by the common man“.
Jamiat Ulama-E-Hind and Muhahid Nafees had filed a writ petition contesting the provisions of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021, and the bench had issued the order.
The statute was challenged as a violation of Articles 14, 21 and 25 of the Constitution, as it interfered with personal autonomy, free choice, freedom of religion, and unlawful discrimination.
In effect, the Court has held that these provisions will not apply to inter-faith marriages based on free consent by adults.