Madhya Pradesh High Court Directs Police to Probe Arya Samaj Trust for allegations of unauthorised religious conversions

The Madya Pradesh High Court recently directed the Senior Superintendent of Police, Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) to get an investigation done into the activities of an Arya Samaj Vivah Mandir Trust in Ghaziabad.

Allegedly, the Trust had illegally converted a Muslim woman to Hindu religion and had then solemnised her marriage to a Hindu man without any legal sanction.

The bench of Justice Rohit Arya and Justice Milind Ramesh Phadke ordered the SSP, Ghaziabad to get the probe done for verification of existence/constitution and members of the Trust, as also into its activities/methodology of functioning including books of accounts and records, if any, of the alleged conversion and marriage activities.

Court further ordered suitable corrective measures to be taken as per law and, if need be. The SSP shall have to also forward the enquiry report to the competent Authority under the relevant Trust Act to initiate action against the so-called Trust in accordance with law.

Court stated, "It is imperative to observe that the nefarious activities of respondent no.6 (the trust) in converting people from one religion to another without any authority of law, are not only detrimental to the social fabric and public order but also have potential to trigger mass unrest which may result into communal tension and riotous activities affecting ease of life and communal harmony."

Further, regarding the case at hand, Court opined that the Trust issued the conversion and marriage certificates only on the strength of the affidavit of the Muslim woman without verification of relevant facts even in the wake of a criminal case registered against her alleged Hindu husband which would definitely come within the realm of suspicious and vulnerable activities apparently carried out for collateral purposes.

"Besides, it cannot be lost sight of that petitioner and the corpus are both domiciles of Madhya Pradesh and, therefore, the said act of issuing conversion certificate is also in stark violation of section 5 of the Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantrya Adhiniyam, 1968 that mandates intimation to the District Magistrate and also entails penal provision for its violation under sub-section (2)," the court observed. 

Moreover, referring to the photocopy of the alleged Trust deed placed on record, the court observed that it neither mentioned under which Act, the Trust was registered nor it showed that issuing a conversion certificate was within the aims and objects of the Trust. 

Court further stressed that as per the alleged Trust deed on record, the said Trust was only entitled to arrange marriage ceremonies according to hindu rites and customs and not to perform/solemnize them to issue marriage certificates.

The act of issuing a conversion certificate is certainly way beyond the aims and objects of the Trust, the court said. 

The directions were issued in a writ petition filed by a man against an order passed by the Additional District Magistrate, Shivpuri district whereby his alleged wife was ordered to be kept at a Government run temporary residential accommodation.

The man had also filed a writ of habeas corpus for production of the corpus (his alleged wife) before the High Court to ascertain her willingness contending that she is a major and he is willing to keep her with him.

To prove his legal marriage, the man produced a conversion certificate and marriage certificate issued by the Arya Samaj Sammelan Trust Ghaziabad (UP) on September 17, 2019.

However, the validity of the certificate so produced was questioned by the State counsel and considering the seriousness and sensitivity of the matter, the court framed 12 issued to consider which included as to Whether a self-styled Trust allegedly registered as Arya Samaj Vivah Mandir Trust can solemnize a marriage between a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl and whether for the purpose it can convert the religion of the girl. 

During the course of hearing in the petitions, it came to light that a missing person report had been lodged by the father of the Muslim girl with an allegation of abduction by the petitioner. 

Furher, regarding the legality of the religious conversion performed by the self-styled Trust, the State counsel argued that the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021 provides that if any religious priest intends to organize conversion, he shall also have to give notice of 60 days' to the concerned District Magistrate and failure to comply with this provision entails penal consequences.

It was also argued that the Arya Marriage Validation Act, 1937, under section 2 provides for validation of marriage between two Arya Samajists and not the marriage of the kind in question.

Court found that there was neither any evidence nor statement on the affidavit that the petitioner and his alleged wife were Arya Samajists which made the marriage vulnerable in terms of S.2 of the Arya Marriage Validation Act, 1937.

Further, court held that the Trust deed placed by the self-styled Trust appeared to be suspicious and serious questions arose as regards its existence in the eyes of law.

Therefore, court ordered the probe into the activities of the Trust.

Furthermore, court directed the Additional District Magistrate and Mukhya Sanchetak One Stop Centre, Shivpuri to arrange for an in-camera video-graphed meeting of the corpus with her parents within one week and ordered that "despite meeting, if corpus who is major, still is not inclined to go with her parents, she shall be set free forthwith to go as per her wishes".

With the aforesaid directions, court disposed of the matter. 

Case Title: Rahul Alias Golu v. The State of Madhya Pradesh and Others