Allahabad HC refuses to grant relief to interfaith couples seeking protection

Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 30 : The Allahabad High Court has refused to grant relief on the petition filed by a couple demanding security after an inter-religious marriage. The court has said that the marriage of the couple did not comply with the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Religious Conversion Act.
Justice Saral Srivastava gave the order rejecting the separate petitions of many petitioners from Moradabad and other districts.
The couple had urged the court to ask the family to stop interference in their marital life and demanded security for their safety, citing the threat to their lives.
The court said that this was a case of the marriage of a couple of opposite religions. The legal process of religious conversion was not followed before marriage. Therefore, this marriage is not valid under the law, the court said, adding that the anti-conversion law was not followed in this marriage.
However, the court said that if the petitioners get married after following due process of law, they can seek protection afresh.
The anti-conversion law passed in 2021 prohibits unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion and inducement.
Out of the total eight petitions, five Muslim youths had married Hindu women and three Hindu youths had married Muslim women .
It is known that petitions challenging the constitutional validity of anti-conversion laws by the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are pending before the Supreme Court.