“Love Jihad” Ordinance Promulgated in Uttar Pradesh, Allahabad High Court Rejected PIL for Teaching of Gita in UP Schools
NEW DELHI, Nov 28: Even as the ordinance against the alleged “unlawful religious conversions,” better known as “love jihad” was promulgated in Uttar Pradesh with the governor Anandiben Patel giving her assent on Friday, another controversial move aimed against religious minorities was rejected by the Allahabad High Court.
The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation seeking the court’s directions to the UP government that teaching of Bhagvat Gita should form part of school curriculum. The court asked the petitioner, Brahma Shanker Shashtri to make a representation before the Uttar Pradesh education board. The petitioner wanted the court to direct the state government to make teaching of Gita as one of the subjects to students of all classes “in the overall interest of the society”.
A bench of justice Pankaj Mithal and justice Saurabh Lavania said Shashtri’s petition was “vague and misconceived” while observing that he may approach an appropriate authority such as Board of High School and Intermediate Education, Uttar Pradesh, or any other concerned board or university in the state.
“The writ petition is completely vague and misconceived and is dismissed…” the high court bench said. “In case, the petitioner wants to include Bhagavad Gita as one of the subjects in the syllabus of intermediate, he may approach the appropriate authority such as Board of High School and Intermediate Education, Uttar Pradesh or any other board or university concerned, which he considers proper for including it as a subject or as a part of the syllabus of one of the subjects,” it observed.
Meanwhile, the ordinance, “The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020,” which was cleared by the State Cabinet earlier this week, makes religious conversion a cognisable and non-bailable offence inviting penalties of up to 10 years in prison if found to be effected for marriage or through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or other allegedly fraudulent means.
The ordinance has better come to be known as “love jihad” to prevent alleged attempts by Muslim youths to lure away Hindu girls and convert their religion for marriage. Several other BJP-ruled states including Madhya Pradesh and Haryana are also claimed to be considering a similar move in their respective states while most of the non-BJP ruled states have declared the move as an attempt to create religious discord in the country.
The UP ordinance says any marriage done with the sole purpose of “unlawful conversion or vice-versa” by a man of one religion with a woman of another religion, either by converting himself/herself before or after marriage, or by converting the woman before or after shall be declared void.”
One who desires to convert his or her religion shall give a declaration in a prescribed form at least 60 days in advance to the District Magistrate (DM) or Additional District Magistrate (ADM) that he or she wishes to convert on his or her own and with his or her free will without any force, coercion, undue influence or allurement. Any religious convertor who performs ceremony for converting any person of one religion to another religion shall give one month’s advance notice in a prescribed form to the DM or ADM.
The ordinance further said the burden to prove that a conversion was not done through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement, fraudulent means or for marriage would be on the person who caused the conversion or the person who facilitated it.
(Manas Dasgupta)
