'We don’t see couples as Hindu & Muslim': UP conversion law doesn’t bar interfaith union, says Allahabad high court

LUCKNOW: The anti-conversion law of Uttar Pradesh doesn’t bar marriage or live-in relationships between consenting adults of different religions, the Allahabad high court said Monday while hearing a batch of 12 petitions seeking police cover for interfaith couples.“The right to live with a person of his/her choice, irrespective of religion professed by them, is intrinsic to the right to life and liberty. If the law permits two persons of the same sex to live together peacefully, then neither any individual nor a familynor even state can have objection to a heterosexual relationship of two individuals living together,” the high court said.

HC: We don’t see couples as Hindu & Muslim

Citing the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, Allahabad HC Justice Vivek Kumar Singh said on Monday that courts don’t see couples as Hindu and Muslim as long as those relationships involve mutual consent.“Interfaith marriage, per se, is not prohibited under the Act... If a person wishes to change/convert his or her religion, he/she is expected to follow the procedure prescribed under sections 8 and 9 of the Act. But one cannot be forced to convert his or her religion for the purposes of marriage or for living together in a live-in relationship,” the court said.In marriage or a live-in relationship, right to life must be put on a higher pedestal, regardless of religious beliefs.

“The mere fact that the petitioners are in interfaith relationships would not deprive them of their fundamental right as envisaged in the Constitution. There can be no discrimination based on caste, creed, sex or religion,” it said.Any attempt to intimidate adult, consenting couples marrying or living together would not only be “antithetical to freedom of choice” but also tantamount to challenging the concept of unity in diversity, Justice Singh said. UP govt had argued live-in couples needed to comply with the provisions of the anti-conversion law.