Pleas in Supreme Court challenge Uttarakhand, UP conversion laws

New Delhi: The recent laws introduced in UP and Uttarakhand to ban conversion in an interfaith marriage have been challenged in the Supreme Court. The laws were arbitrary and violated the fundamental right to freedom and right to religion, said the petitioners.

Petitioners said the laws were ultra vires and went against the basis structure of the Constitution. They said the laws would become potent tools of harassment at the hands of the state instrumentalities. The petition urged the court to either modify the ordinance or get the government to withdraw it or not give effect to it. Another petition specifically against the UP ordinance contended that it discriminated on religious grounds and went against equal rights guaranteed by the Constitution to all citizens.