UP’s Law Prohibiting Conversion is Unconstitutional and Draconian

This unique law promulgated by the UP government strives to curb fundamental freedoms guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 and clamps down brutally on the marriage or cohabitation of couples of different faiths. It provides a fresh platform to institute false and motivated prosecutions and subverts religious and institutional autonomy. It also gives misguided and indoctrinated youth an excuse to resort to mob violence such as seen in cases of cow vigilantism, says MAHALAKSHMI PAVANI.

________

THE recently promulgated Prohibition of Conversion of Religion Ordinance 2020 by the UP government is an absurd and unique law. It calls into question the fundamental freedoms guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution and whittles down the glorious jurisprudence rendered by constitutional courts where personal liberties and individual autonomy were concerned.

The Ordinance has religious overtones and gives the impression of a state which has clamped down as it is petrified with the harmonious co-existence of people of different faiths. So imperilled does it seem that it is willing to use all the force at its disposal to prevent people of different religions from cohabiting together.

Code of Conduct

Reading the provisions of the Ordinance is like going through a code of conduct of an anarchical state which infringes on the liberties of its citizens. This divisive legislation sows the seeds of pugnacity and deepens the cleavage between people of different faiths. It provides a fresh platform to institute false and motivated prosecutions and subverts religious and institutional autonomy. It gives misguided and indoctrinated youth an excuse to resort to mob violence such as seen in cases of cow vigilantism. This bill, many feel, doesn't deserve judicial scrutiny and is prima facie unlawful.

Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights underscores the fundamental importance of marriage: Plus, the right to marry a person of one's choice is integral to Article 21 of the Constitution which guarantees Right to life. Assertion of choice is an inseparable facet of liberty and dignity. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in Shafin Jahan vs K.M.Asokan (2018) held: "The Constitution recognises the liberty and autonomy which inheres in each individual. This includes the ability to make decisions on aspects which define one's personhood and identity. The choice of a partner whether within or outside marriage lies within the exclusive domain of each individual. Intimacies of marriage lie within a core zone of privacy, which is inviolable….The Constitution guarantees to each individual the right freely to practise, profess and propagate religion. Choices of faith and belief as indeed choices in matters of marriage lie within an area where individual autonomy is supreme."