Lucknow: In a significant judgement, the Allahabad high court said that the majority population will be minority one day if conversions are allowed to continue at religious congregations.
A single bench comprising Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal said this while rejecting the bail application of one Kailash, who was charged under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021.
‘’Article 25 of the Constitution of India provides for Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion, but it does not provide for conversion from one faith to another faith,’’ the court said in its ruling delivered on Monday.
It said that the word 'propagation' means to promote, but it does not mean to convert any person from their religion to another.
In this case, there were serious allegations against the applicant by an informant that her brother, along with others, were taken away from the village to attend a gathering at New Delhi. At the gathering, they were converted to Christianity.
‘’The statements recorded by the investigating officer of various other people clearly reveals, at this stage, that the applicant- Kailash had been taking people to attend the religious congregation held at New Delhi, where they are being converted into Christianity’’, the court said.
‘’If this process is allowed to be carried out, the majority population of this country would be in minority one day. Such religious congregations— where conversions are taking place—should be immediately stopped,’’ the court went on to say.
It said that Article 25 of the Constitution of India does not provide for religious conversion, it only provides freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.
‘’It has come into notice of this Court in several cases that unlawful activity of conversion of people of SC/ST castes and other castes including economically poor persons to Christianity is being done at rampant pace throughout the state of Uttar Pradesh’’, the court said.
According to the prosecution, the accused had taken a man named Ramphal to Delhi for attending a social gathering saying the ceremony was for his well-being. According to the FIR, many persons from the said village were taken to social gatherings and were converted into Christianity.
The applicant promised the informant that her brother who was suffering from mental illness would be treated, and would return to his native village, within a week.
When the brother of the informant did not return after a week, she asked the applicant about his whereabouts but did not get any satisfactory answer.
The prosecution also said that a large number of people were being converted into Christianity by these persons who were being paid huge amounts of money.