In a case of conversion of two consenting adults under the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018, the division bench of Uttarakhand High Court comprising of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Narayan Singh Dhanik issued directions to the Superintendent of Police and District Magistrate, Haridwar to provide protection from the petitioner's family and also conduct a detailed enquiry in the matter.
The facts of the case is that the petitioner, a hindu by religion had married to a man of muslim faith on 21.12.2020 and converted into muslim religion thereafter. However, the couple failed to give a prior notice of one month to the concerned District Magistrate which is a mandatory requirement of Sec. 8 of the Act. The petitioner therefore sought relief in the form of police protection from the respondents who are the father, brother and neighbour of the petitioner in this case.
The major contentions raised by the respondents in the case are as follows:
- The couple had failed to produce a mandatory advance notice under Sec. 8 of the Act to the concerned DM indicating their willingness to marry.
- The person who performed the conversion had failed to give one month advance notice to the DM which is mandatorily required under Sec. 8(2) of the Act.
- Due to the non submission of the above mentioned documents, the marriage is in violation of the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018.
The bench while issuing directions to the Superintendent of Police and District Magistrate, Haridwar took note of the fact that similar cases have been coming up regularly before the Court having same facts, particularly where the couples fail to submit the advance notice to DM which is a mandatory requirement of the Act.
To this, the Bench ordered that "Our intention is to inform the concerned persons about the illegalities and the legal implications in the matter, so that a prior information is given to the concerned District Magistrate, which is the mandate of law. In all similar cases, which are coming before us, we find that such intimation is not given under sub-section (2) of Section 8 of the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 by the concerned Priest. We would like the District Magistrate, Haridwar to conduct an inquiry in all these aspects."
On the aspect of providing police protection to the police, the bench directed the Superintendent of Police to grant full protection to the couple in the interest of justice and reasonable apprehension to the life and liberty at hands of private respondents. Furthermore, the bench directed the SP to file an immediate report before the court within 24 hours and also asked the State Counsel to file a report after informing the SP about the order.
Case Name: Khusboo v. State of Uttarakhand W.P. (Crl.) No. 2226 of 2020
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