Court No. - 81
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 28168 of 2021 Petitioner :- Ruksar And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Atul Kumar Singh Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Umesh Kumar,J.
The petitioners have preferred this writ petition for a direction upon the respondents not to interfere in their married life and also for protection of their lives and liberty.
The petitioners claim that they are adults and living together out of their own freewill. It is stated that for the said reason, the private respondent and his other family members have got annoyed and there is serious danger to the lives of the petitioners as they are being threatened and harassed.
In support of their age, the petitioner no. 1 has brought on record her certificate-cum-marksheet of Class IX and petitioner no. 2 has brought on record his certificate-cum-marksheet of High School Examination, 2014, wherein the date of birth of the petitioner no. 1 is shown as 05.07.1999 and that of petitioner no. 2 as 11.07.1999. Thus, it appears from the record that both the petitioners are major. They have also brought on record the online application for registration of their marriage.
The petitioners have averred in the writ petition that they are living as wife and husband. It is stated that they have apprehension that private respondent can eliminate them for the honour of his family. They have applied for online registration of their marriage but in view of the Section 8 and 9 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance 2020 (Uttar Pradesh Vidhi Viruddh Dharm Samparivartan Pratishedh Adhyadesh 2020), the conversion of the petitioner no.1 is not to be in accordance with law, therefore no relief can be granted to the petitioners. There is no compliance of the aforesaid Sections and the conversion of the petitioner no. 1 from Islamic religion to Hindu religion is in contravention to the aforesaid Act. The Section 8 & 9 of the aforesaid Act are as follows:
"8 (1) One who desires to convert his/her religion, shall give a declaration in the form prescribed in Schedule-1 at least sixty days in advance to the District Magistrate or the Additional District Magistrate specially authorized by District Magistrate, that he wishes to convert his/her religion on his/her own and with his/her free consent and without any force, coercion, undue influence or allurement.
(2) The religious convertor, who performs conversion ceremony for converting any person of one religion to another religion, shall give one month's advance notice in the form prescribed in Schedule-II of such conversion, to the District Magistrate or any other officer not below the rank of Additional District Magistrate appointed for that purpose by the District Magistrate of the district where such ceremony is proposed to be performed.
(3) The District Magistrate, after receiving the information under sub-sections (1) and (2), shall get an enquiry conducted through police with regard to real intention, purpose and cause of the proposed religious conversion.
(4) Contravention of sub-section (1) and/or sub-section (2) shall have the effect of rendering the proposed conversion, illegal and void.
(5) Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months, but may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than rupees ten thousand.
(6) Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (2) shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year, but may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than rupees twenty five thousand.
9. (1) The converted person shall send a declaration in the form prescribed in Schedule- III within sixty days of the date of conversion, to the District Magistrate of the District in which converted person resides ordinarily.
(2) The District Magistrate shall exhibit a copy of the declaration on the notice board of the office till the date of confirmation.
(3) The said declaration shall contain the requisite details, i.e. the particulars of the convert such as date of birth, permanent address, and the present place of residence, father's/husband's name, the religion to which the convert originally belonged and the religion to which he has converted, the date and place of conversion and nature of process gone through for conversion.
(4) The converted individual shall appear before the District Magistrate within 21 days from the date of sending/filing the declaration to establish her/his identity and confirm the contents of the declaration.
(5) The District Magistrate shall record the factum of declaration and confirmation in a register maintained for this purpose. If any objections are notified, he may simply record them, i.e., the name and particulars of objectors and the nature of objection.
(6) Certified copies of declaration, confirmation and the extracts from the register shall be furnished to the parties, who gave the declaration to his/her authorized legal representative on his/her request.
(7) The contravention of sub-sections (1) to (4) shall have the effect of rendering the said conversion illegal and void.''
In view of the above, no relief can be granted to the petitioners. However, if there is any threat from any corner, the petitioners may move fresh application within 15 days' from today which may be considered by the authorities concerned i.e. District Magistrate/Senior Superintendent of Police, Aligarh.
This writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of finally.
Order Date :- 20.12.2021 S.Verma