Illustration by Siddhant Jumde On August 29, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said his government would appeal the Supreme Court against the Gujarat High Court’s order on August 19 that stayed certain sections of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021. “The state government is firm on stopping forcible religious conversions through marriage,” he told reporters in Gandhinagar. “Hindu girls are made to elope, and later forced to undergo religious conversion.” On August 19, the Gujarat High Court stayed sections 3, 4, 4A to 4C, 5, 6 and 6A of the amended act, saying these provisions violate the right to life. A division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Biren Vaishnav was hearing a petition filed by Muhammed Hakim. The High Court said that the mere fact that a marriage was between people of different religions did not prove it had been conducted for the purposes of unlawful conversion, since there was no proof of force, allurement or fraud being involved. What is the law Since 2003, Gujarat has had a law pertaining to punishment for forcible conversions. In April, the state amended that law, renaming it the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021. The […]
