Overview
- The Allahabad High Court rejected a plea to quash an FIR against four individuals accused under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2021.
- The court ruled that the charges, involving alleged coercive conversions through monetary offers and free medical care, were serious enough to warrant police investigation.
- Justice Vinod Diwakar emphasized that Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees religious freedom but does not protect forced or fraudulent conversions.
- The court clarified that station house officers (SHOs) are authorized to file FIRs under the Act, aligning its provisions with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita framework for cognizable offenses.
- The law, enacted to curb coercive or deceptive religious conversions, aims to safeguard social harmony and ensure that religious freedom does not disrupt public order or individual well-being.