‘Difficult situation will emerge if…’: SC terms forced religious conversion ‘very serious issue’

The Supreme Court (SC) said on Monday that forced religious conversion is a “very serious” issue. The Supreme Court also said that religious conversion may affect the security of the country along with the freedom of conscience of citizens as far as religion is concerned.

Terming forced religious conversion a "very serious" issue, the Supreme Court also asked the Central government to step in and make sincere efforts to check the practice. The Supreme Court also warned a "very difficult situation" will emerge if forced religious conversions are not stopped.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and Hima Kohli asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to enumerate measures to curb the practice through allurement.

The Supreme Court bench said, “This [forced religious conversion] is a very serious matter. Sincere efforts are to be made by the Central government to stop forced conversions. Otherwise, [a] very difficult situation will come.”

Asserting that the Centre has to step in, the Supreme Court said, “Tell us what action do you propose... You have to step in.”

"It is a very serious issue which affects security of the nation and freedom of religion and conscience. Therefore, it is better that the Union of India may make their stand clear and file counter on what further steps can be taken to curb such forced conversion," the Supreme Court bench said.

The comments in forced religious conversion were made when the Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking direction to the Central government and the states to take stringent steps to control fraudulent religious conversion by "intimidation, threatening, deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits".

India has seen a number of cases where forced religious conversion has been alleged.