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Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court clarified that individuals in India have the freedom to change their religion. However, the court emphasized that a mere oral or written declaration is not sufficient for conversion; credible evidence of the intention to convert, along with overt actions supporting this intention, is necessary.

The bench of Justice Prashant Kumar asserted that the change in the religion has to be legal so that the new religion gets reflected in all the government IDs across the country.

For the religion change, an affidavit has to be prepared mandatorily. Thereafter, advertisement should be placed in the newspaper with wide circulation in that area, which ensures that there is no public objection to such change and it is also there to ensure that there is no such fraudulent or illegal conversion, court held. 

Furthermore, the court stressed that the newspaper advertisement must specify the details like name, age, and address.

Court added that thereafter there should be notification in the National Gazette, which is online record published by the Central Government of India.

If the gazette application is filed, the department will inspect the application closely and once they are convinced that everything is in order, the religion change application will be published in the e-Gazette, court held.

Court observed so while dealing with an application filed under Section 482 CrPC. The applicant namely Sonu @ Waris Ali informed the court that he had married the daughter of the opposite party and since they were of different religions, he had converted his religion. 

However, the government advocate sought time to verify the averments made by the counsel for the applicants and to verify that such conversion was not done to overreach the legal hurdles or under any pressure or greed.

Court allowed the same and posted the matter for further hearing on May 6, 2024.

Case Title: Sonu @ Waris Ali And 2 Others v. State of U.P. and Another