Everyone Is Free To Change Religion In India But It Has To Be Done Legally: Allahabad High Court

A bench of Justice Prashant Kumar emphasised that credible proof of a desire to convert one's religion is required, followed by clear overt actions to carry out such a desire.

Importantly, the Court also outlined a clear step-by-step process for changing one's religion, emphasizing the importance of legal formalities and public scrutiny.

“For the religion change, an affidavit has to be prepared mandatorily. Thereafter, an advertisement should be placed in the newspaper with wide circulation in that area, which ensures that there is no public objection to such change and it is also there to ensure that there is no such fraudulent or illegal conversion. The newspaper advertisement must specify the details like name, age and address. Thereafter, there should be notification in the National Gazette, which is online record published by the Central Government of India. If the gazette application is filed, the department will inspect the application closely and once they are convinced that everything is in order, the religion change application will be published in the e-Gazette,” the Court explained.

The Court added that the change in the religion has to be legal so that the new religion gets reflected in all the government IDs across the country.

The occasion to make these observations arose while dealing with a Section 482 plea moved by one Waris Ali, a Muslim by religion and his wife, Anjani, a Hindu by religion seeking to quash a 2016 FIR lodged against Ali under Sections 363, 366, 366A, 504, 506, 376 IPC and 7/8 and 3/4 POSCO Act.

Before the court, it was submitted that the girl (the alleged victim) had entered into marriage with applicant no. 1 voluntarily, after changing her religion (from Hindu to Muslim) and in her statement recorded under Section 164 CrPC she categorically stated that she gave birth to a girl child and the father of the child is applicant no. 1 and as such, the submission is that no offence as alleged has been made out against the applicant no. 1.

Stressing that in India, it is open for anybody to change their religion but merely an oral or written declaration does not constitute conversion, the Court directed the Counsel appearing for the state to verify that such conversion was not done to overreach the legal hurdles or under any pressure or greed and also to ascertain the facts whether the conversion is just for the sake of marriage or has been carried out.

The matter has now been posted for hearing on May 6.

Here it may be noted that in 2020, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government passed an ordinance to deal with unlawful religious conversions in the state. The same was replaced by an Act in March 2021 [Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021].

The Act aims to provide for the prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Section 8 of the Act mandates the person who desires to convert his/her religion to give a declaration at least sixty days in advance to the District Magistrate or Additional District Magistrate that the decision to convert is of his own. Section 9 deals with the post-conversion declaration.