Keywords: Religious Conversion, FIR, U.P. Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Act.
The Allahabad High Court said that distribution of the Bible books and encouraging children to get education and instructing villagers not to enter into altercations do not mean allurement for religious conversion under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Act, 2021. The single judge bench comprising of Justice Shamim Ahmad granted bail to two persons who were arrested under the act for deliberately carrying out religious conversions by allurement among scheduled caste and scheduled tribes (SC/ST). Furtherance, the court has stated that providing good teachings, distributing holy Bible books, encouraging children to get education, organizing assembly of villagers and performing ‘Bhandara’ and instructing the villagers not to enter into altercation and also not to take liquor do not amount to allurement of people for religious conversion rather it comes under the purview of public welfare. Moreover, the court reiterated that only the aggrieved person or his family member can lodge a First Information Report under section 4 of the aforementioned act.
The appellants relied on the facts stated by the villagers that is recorded under section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, wherein they agreed by stating that the appellants used to give them good teachings and encourage them to engage their children in education. Pertinently, it was noticed that the complainant was neither an aggrieved person nor the relative of the aggrieved person as provided for under section 4 of the Act. In this case the complainant was Zila Mantri of a ruling party, lodged the FIR to gain political goodwill and fame although he was not competent to do so. However, it was argued against the appellant that they were alluring the innocent people by undue influence to convert people from other religious to Christianity and hence the bail should not be granted.
The court contended that the appellants were primarily engaging in a good deed by imparting positive knowledge to the people to encourage them to educate their children and foster a sense of unity among villagers. Therefore, there was no evidence presented against the appellants for indicating forced conversions.
Name- Aayushi Arun Satyadeo , College Name- Bharati Vidyapeeth University, New Law College, Pune., Sem- IIIrd, an intern under Legal Vidya
