Allahabad High Court quashes conversion case against interfaith couple who married under Special Marriage Act

The Allahabad High Court recently quashed a criminal case against a married interfaith couple who had been booked by Uttar Pradesh Police under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act..The division bench of Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Gajendra Kumar said that both the husband and wife are major and the accused woman also made a categorical statement that she was living with the accused man out of her own will.Significantly, the Court also took note of the woman’s statement that she and her husband had not changed their religion after marriage. It was also revealed that the couple had married under the Special Marriage Act which allows persons belonging to different religions to marry. “We find that both the petitioners are major. From the statement of petitioner no.1 [woman] under Section 164 CrPC, this much is clear that she is living voluntarily in the company of the petitioner no.2 [man]. Once the age of the victim girl is not in dispute, the offence as alleged against the petitioners is not made out as victim had left her home in order to live with the petitioner no.2 [man],” it said..Accordingly, the Court quashed the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Aligarh Police in December 2023 under various provisions of Indian Penal Code and the anti-conversion law.The anti-conversion law passed in 2021 prohibits unlawful conversions from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion and allurement.It particularly mentions that any marriage done for the "sole purpose of unlawful conversion" shall be declared void by family court.A person converting religion for marriage purposes is thus required to declare the conversion to authorities who in turn will enquire to rule out any angle of coercion..The couple approached the Court for quashing the FIR as well as for protection from arrest. The Court was told the couple had married under the Special Marriage Act in 2022.While restraining the police from arresting the couple, the Court had directed the investigating officer to produce the woman before a Chief Judicial Magistrate for recording of her statement.In the statement, she revealed that she had been beaten up by her father and denied the allegation of religious conversion. She further said that she had married the man under Special Marriage Act and they have not changed their religion till date. Taking note of the same, the Court quashed the FIR..Advocates MJ Akhtar and Sarita Mishra represented petitioners.Advocate Hemendra Pratap Singh represented a respondent.