The Delhi high court has issued guidelines to those facilitating religious conversions for the sake of marriages.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said during the process the facilitators must provide a detailed understanding of the religion that a person is converting to, its associated ramifications, and make the person aware of the potential shifts in legal standing, post-conversion, according to the Hindustan Times.
“Conversion to another religion which is uninformed may not prepare a convert with the consequences that they will now not be able to follow their form of religion in case the religion they are converting to, does not permit so. This becomes more critical in case their reverting back to their religion may ensue legal, matrimonial, succession, and custody-related consequences,” Justice Sharma said.
The court issued the guidelines as part of a case it was hearing on Friday, January 19, where a Muslim man petitioned the court to quash a rape complaint filed against him by a Hindu woman in October 2022. He was arrested on November 18, 2022 and was granted interim bail five days later on the grounds that they had married according to Muslim customs and rights after the woman converted to Islam. He was granted regular in February 2023 after the woman told the authorities that she married the man 10 days after a complaint was registered against the man.
The man then approached the court for the FIR against him to be quashed and told the court that he had settled his disputes with the woman and they were now legally married.
However, the court declined to quash the FIR. Instead, the court, in a 53-page verdict, issued guidelines to authorities/individuals facilitating conversion, “to inform the individual with exhaustive information concerning the religious doctrines, customs, and practices associated with the chosen faith in a native language to ensure that consent to such conversion is an informed consent”, according to the HT report.
“Equally important is the exploration of religious repercussions. The individual must be apprised of the religious norms, obligations, and restrictions that come with the conversion,” the judge noted.
The court also told the authorities concerned to obtain an affidavit from the parties wishing to convert indicating their age, marital history, and marital status, at the time of the interfaith marriage. It also said affidavits must be obtained to the effect that the conversion is voluntary after understanding the implications related to marital divorce, succession, custody, and religious rights.
In the instant case, Justice Sharma said that the woman was illiterate and did not know Urdu, adding that there was nothing in the Nikahnama that showed that the contents of either the marriage or conversion certificate which were also in Urdu were explained to her. She refused to quash the FIR against the man.
