India’s top court is likely to examine the constitutionality of nine of 11 provincial anti-conversion laws after their validity was challenged amid demands for a federal law to contain alleged rampant fraudulent religious conversions.
The Supreme Court on Feb. 3 served notices on the federal government and five provincial governments — Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand and Karnataka — on a fresh petition filed by a group called Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) challenging the constitutionality of their anti-conversion laws.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud directed them to file their counter affidavits within three weeks and set March. 17 for the hearing.
Earlier, the court issued notices to Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand about a similar petition against their anti-conversion laws.
The CJP said in a statement that it is fighting a ‘Love Jihad’ myth that has led to violence and intimidation by police and non-state actors (against minority communities especially Muslims).
“The ‘Love Jihad’ laws legitimize un-constitutional, anti-minority and misogynistic beliefs, and help further the hateful, communal agenda of extremists”, it said.
This story was originally published in ucanews.com. Read the full story here