Analysis Of The Constitutionality Of ‘Protection Of Right To Freedom Of Religion Act’

Shreya S Palely, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru

ABSTRACT

Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act or widely known as the Anti Conversion Law which is introduced by about 10 states in India. The primary intention of law is to prevent conversion of a person from fraud, allurement, misrepresentation, coercion etc and any conversion for such a purpose is considered as forceful and conversion for the purpose of marriage is invalid. The law also provides for a certain period during which the person intending to convert has to notify the District magistrate. The Freedom of Religion Act believes that there is force involved from the other person. It views the right to convert as a right of a person to convert another person to a religion which is different from one’s original religion. This process is considered as ‘forceful’ by the supporters of the act. However, the law argues on the basis that the right to convert will lead to a right where one person can forcefully convert the other person to his/her religion. The whole research revolves around considering as to if imposing restrictions on the rights of the people can be termed as constitutionally valid law. The researcher has analyzed various scholarly articles and judicial precedents to substantiate the claims. The objective of the paper is to analyze the constitutionality of the Anti Conversion laws. The researcher claims that the provisions of the act have changed the basic structure of the constitution by providing restrictions on the enjoyment of Article 14, Article 21 and Article 25 of the constitution of India.

Keywords: Anti Conversion, Fundamental rights, District Magistrate, Constitutionality, Forceful conversion