NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought replies from various States within four weeks after hearing a batch of applications seeking a stay of the laws enacted and enforced by these states dealing with religious conversions.
Directing Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand and Karnataka to file their respective replies in the pleas within four weeks, a two-judge bench of the top court heAded by the CJI B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran listed the matter to be heard next in six weeks.
Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh, for Citizens for Justice and Peace, sought stay of the impugned legislations.
He submitted that there was great urgency to hear the matter, as States are amending the laws to make these laws more stringent.
Clarifying that although these laws are called the "Freedom of Religion Act", these laws curtail the religious freedom of minorities and targeting interfaith marriages and religious practices, Singh argued.
"In 2024, the Uttar Pradesh law was amended to increase the punishment for unlawful religious conversion through marriage a minimum of twenty years, which can extend up to life imprisonment for the remainder of one's life," stated Singh.
Seeking to stay the impugned legislations, Singh added that for anybody wishing to enter an interfaith marriage, bail would become impossible. "Several states are already enacted some are enacting, recently Rajasthan has also enacted a law," he contended.
On similar voices with Singh, advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the National Federation of Indian Women, told the top court that her client has also filed a similar application to stay the laws.