Tanvi Sinha
The Supreme Court allowed the Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, to get itself be taken action against as respondents in the ongoing petitions that challenge the love jihad laws in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh etc.
This happens as the court, with a three judge bench of CJI SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian was considering two pleas that tackled the love jihad laws- referring to the religious conversion and inter-religious marriages laws laid out out by the states of UP, Uttarakhand and others.
The court had earlier dismissed the petitions, notably the one by THE People’s Union for Civil Liberties and had stated that they needed to present the petitions to their respective high courts.
Following this the Supreme Court had also dismissed the UP government’s appeal to transfer a petition from Allahabad HC to the top court.
NGO “Citizens for Peace and Justice” represented by Uday Singh, senior advocate, has filed the main petition that the bench is considering.
While the petition was originally filed against the laws of UP and Uttarakhand, the application was amended to challenge similar laws in Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
Earlier Jamiat Uleme-e-Hind had approached the court with the plea against the laws, stating that even if converting to religion just for marriage could at its worst be called immoral it could not be criminalised.
The petition by the Islamic school of thought had further stated that the ordinance mentioned the term allurement which was vague and could include a wide litany of actions and that the law gave disgruntled families to wage war against their children.
Read also: Love Jihad laws: Supreme Court asks petitioners to approach High Courts