(Video by News 18 ) The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to put a stay on the controversial new laws enacted by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand regulating religious conversions due to inter-faith marriages. Hearing pleas against the love jihad law, the Supreme Court, however, issued notices to the two state governments on two different petitions challenging the love jihad ordinance in Uttar Pradesh and Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 in Uttarakhand. The pleas, filed by advocate Vishal Thakre and others and an NGO Citizen for Justice and Peace’, have challenged the constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 and the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 which regulate religious conversions of inter-faith marriages. A bench headed by Chief Justice S. A. Bobde agreed to examine the validity of legislations, ‘The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion Of Religion Ordinance, 2020’ and the ‘Uttarakhand Freedom Of Religion Act, 2018’, and issued notice to the two state governments. The top court has sought response within four weeks. The counsel petitioners – Vishal Thakre and others, and NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace – during the hearing stressed for a stay on these ‘love jihad’ laws […]
