JODHPUR: In a historical decision, the Rajasthan High Court on Friday charted out stringent guidelines for religious conversion through marriage in the state.
In the hearing of a petition on love jihad filed by one Chirag Singhvi, the division bench comprising of Justices Gopalkrishna Vyas and Vineet Mathur issued a ten-point guideline to be followed by those seeking religious conversion.
Additional advocate Shivkumar Vyas informed that one of the guidelines requires the parties seeking conversion through marriage, to approach the District Collector.
“They have set some guidelines, wherein if there is any religious conversion, all necessary documents have to be sent to District Collector, who will then send a notice to their parents. Thereafter, following the set procedure, the District Collector will take the prescribed legal action and then the marriage will take place in compliance with the respective special marriage act,” Vyas told ANI.
The guidelines are to be followed until a law in enacted.
Issuing fresh guidelines for matters relating to religious conversions, Justice G.K. Vyas warned that strict action would be taken against those found forcing people to convert.
"If any particular organisation is found guilty (of forcing) for caste conversion, its licence will be cancelled," he observed.
On November 28, the amicus curiae appointed by the Rajasthan High Court to look into the legality of religious conversions in the state had advised the court to issue guidelines for conversions until a law was enacted by the government in this regard.
The amicus curiae was appointed by the court following a habeas corpus petition filed by Chirag Singhvi, brother of Aarifa Modi alias Payal Singhvi, which challenged the conversion of his sister from Hinduism to Islam and then her marriage to a Muslim man.
The division bench of justices G.K. Vyas and Virendra Kumar Mathur had adjourned the hearing for arguments by the government and other respondents.
(with inputs from IANS)