|
|
|
Plea seeks stringent steps to control fraudulent religious conversions, SC issues notice
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
IANS | 23 Sep, 2022
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on a plea against fraudulent
religious conversion by intimidation, threatening, deceivingly luring
through gifts and monetary benefits, on grounds it offends Articles 14,
21, and 25, and claiming that if such conversions were not checked,
Hindus would soon become a minority in India.
The plea,
filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, before a bench of Justices M.R. Shah
and Krishna Murari, claimed that women and children are the "main
target" of foreign-funded missionaries and "conversion mafias", but
Centre and state governments have not taken appropriate steps to control
religious conversion in spirit of Article 15(3).
The plea said
that "freedom of religion enshrined in Article 25 is not granted
exclusively in respect of one faith, but includes all religions equally,
and an individual may properly enjoy it if he practices his right in a
manner commensurate with the freedom of persons practicing the other
religions. What is liberty for one, in equal measure, is freedom for the
other, and therefore, there can be no such thing as a fundamental right
to turn another man into one's own religion".
The petitioner has
made the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Law and Justice, the
CBI, the NIA, and state governments as respondents in the matter.
After
hearing Upadhyay's submissions, the bench issued notice to Centre on
the plea and scheduled the matter for hearing in November.
The
plea alleged that church planting is a process that results in a new
(local) church being established and several unethical predatory
conversion strategies are commonly used. It added that one method is
material enticement in which humanitarian aid or economic, educational,
medical or social assistance is offered on the condition that the person
converts.
"Another is the denigration of the person's religion
to make a new religion appear superior. A third unethical, predatory
method is the promotion of 'bigotry' i.e. knowingly and intentionally
promoting religious hatred & violence. Predatory proselytisation
tears apart the fabric of the communities where it occurs and has led to
the annihilation of cultures," added the plea.
Upadhyay alleged
the situation is alarming as many individuals-organisations are carrying
mass conversion of socially economically underprivileged citizens,
particularly belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes by use
of force, allurement and fraudulent means like black magic,
superstition, healing etc.
The plea claimed that there are many
methods by which the Centre may control forceful-deceitful conversion of
underprivileged. It may enact a law with minimum imprisonment of 3
years that may extend up to 10 years and a hefty fine may be imposed,
and also empower the NHRC to deal with the affairs of religious groups
and keep a check by carrying out an in depth analysis of religious
discrimination among them.
The plea also sought a direction to
NIA/Central Bureau of Investigation and/or National Human Right
Commission (NHRC)/National Commission of Protection of Child Rights to
investigate root-cause of death of a 17-year-old, who committed suicide
in Tamil Nadu's Thanjavur.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|