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Home > Cases > Constitutionality of Anti-Conversion Laws
Constitutionality of Anti-Conversion Laws
Citizens for Justice and Peace v State of Uttar Pradesh
The Court will decide if the anti-conversion laws passed by multiple States including Uttar Pradesh and
Uttarakhand are constitutionally valid.
PENDING
D.Y. Chandrachud
D.Y. Chandrachud CJI
P.S. Narasimha J
J.B. Pardiwala J
PARTIES
Petitioner: Citizens for Justice and Peace
Lawyers: C.U. Singh ;Tanima Kishore; Srishti Agnihotri
Respondent: State of Uttar Pradesh; State of Uttarakhand; State of Maharashtra; State of Gujarat
Lawyers: Vanshaja Shukla; Ruchira Goel; Abhinav Mukerji
CASE DETAILS
Case Number:
WP (Crl) 428/2020
Next Hearing:
Last Updated: May 29, 2023
TAGS:
Anti-Conversion Laws, Freedom of Religion, Gender Discrimination, inter-religious marriage, Right to
Marriage
KEY ISSUES
1
Do the anti-conversion laws restrict the rights to choice, privacy, personal liberty, marriage, and dignity
given under Article 21?
Do the anti-conversion laws violate the freedoms of religion and conscience under Article 25?
CASE DESCRIPTION
In 2018, the State of Uttarakhand introduced a law “to provide freedom of religion” specifically in
instances of religious conversion by force, misrepresentation, undue influence, coercion, allurement or
by any fraudulent means or by marriage. In 2020, Uttar Pradesh followed suit, enacting an ordinance
that imposed similar restrictions. The laws punished unlawful religious conversion for the purpose of
marriage. Further, a declaration clause compelled any person intending to convert their religion to
inform the government at least one month in advance.
In December 2020, the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), a Mumbai-based NGO, filed a Writ Petition in
the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the laws. CJP stated that the laws were
enacted as a result of a ‘baseless rhetoric’ known as ‘love-jihad’. They argued that the provisions violate
the right to personal liberty, freedom of choice, privacy and conscience as they intentionally prevent
inter-faith marriages.
The term ‘love-jihad’ has been used to describe interfaith marriages where the Muslim man is accused of
wooing a Hindu woman to convert her to Islam. Interestingly, Ministers from Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, and Karnataka publicly promised to bring laws against
‘love-jihad’.
In their petition, CJP relied on the case of Shafin Jahan v. Asokan K.M. (2018) where the Supreme Court
held that the right to change religion is a fundamental right. Additionally, they relied upon KS
Puttaswamy v Union of India (2017), Shakti Vahini v. Union of India (2018) and Indian Young Lawyers
Association vs The State of Kerala (2019) which elaborated the role of privacy, choice and religious
beliefs for maintaining dignity. The petition was heard by a 3-Judge Bench headed by Chief Justice S.A.
Bobde and Justices V. Ramasubramanian and A.S. Bopanna. The Bench issued notices to the concerned
States.
Two other States namely, Himachal Pradesh (2019) & Madhya Pradesh (2020) enacted similar Anti-
Conversion laws. The laws contained provisions analogous to that of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. In
February 2021, CJP filed an application to include these enactments under their original petition. The
Bench led by Chief Justice Bobde allowed the application. On January 16th, 2023, a 3-Judge Bench led by
Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud with Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala started hearing the
petition.
As the CJP petition remains pending, the States of Gujarat (2021), Haryana (2022) and Karnataka (2022)
have enacted their own Anti-Conversion laws. However, on August 19th, 2021 the Gujarat High Court put
a stay on several sections of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act. On November 14th,
2022, the Madhya Pradesh High Court struck down the declaration clause of the Madhya Pradesh
Freedom of Religion Act. The State of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have appealed in the Supreme Court.
A petition challenging the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Ordinance, 2022 is
pending in the Karnataka High Court.
On January 5th, 2023, the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind filed a new petition in the Supreme Court challenging the
validity of the anti-conversion laws of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh
and Gujarat.
REPORTS
(2)
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