Charity Is Welcome But Not For Religious Conversion, Says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday while hearing a petition seeking to curb forced religious conversion observed that ‘every charity or good work is welcome but the intention of charity needs to be checked’.

Alluring people to convert to other religions by offering medicines and food grains is a very serious issue, said the presiding judge of the bench Justice MR Shah, as quoted by Livelaw.

The apex court was hearing an intervention application filed by a rationalist group from Kerala which contended that the above PIL filed by petitioner and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay was ‘spreading untruths about forced mass conversions and causing hysteria so as to cause ruptures between communities’.

The organisation said the PIL had no credible factual basis and that it was based on ‘social media forwards, Youtube videos and whatsapp chats’. It also stated various past attempts by Upadhyay to file such petitions which had been withdrawn, or not accepted.

As per their application, the organisation claimed that the petition has been filed ‘just to sensationalise the issue and to create an unrest in the society and to gain publicity or further the political agenda of the party in which he is a leader’.

But the bench made it clear that it would not entertain issues with regard to maintainability of the petition and asked the counsel to not have such a technical approach. “This is a serious issue. We are here for solution, to set things right” said the bench, adding that it would not enter into the question of maintainability as it was at the final disposal stage.

On conversions, Justice C T Ravikumar too highlighted the gravity of the issue observing that ‘If you believe that particular persons should be helped, help them but it cant be for conversion. Allurement is very dangerous. It is a very serious issue and is against the basic structure of our constitution”.

The matter will next be heard on 12 December.