Conversion solely for marriage illegal, says HC

Court says some girls were not even aware of conversion

In a landmark judgment amid the ongoing “conversion” controversy, the Allahabad High Court has ruled that conversion solely for the purpose of marriage is not legal and no relief could be granted to such couples.

A single judge bench comprising Justice Surya Pratap Kesarvani gave the judgment on five writ petitions filed by couples seeking protection from their kin, who have allegedly threatened them.

The court said that the girls, who were Hindus and had married Muslim boys after allegedly being converted, had no knowledge about Islam and that the conversion was only for the purpose of marriage.

The judge in his order referred to the past judgments and the Muslim religious scriptures. According to the sources, five Hindu girls from different districts of Uttar Pradesh had married Muslim boys after conversion. Though the petitions had been filed separately, the court clubbed them together.

The court also found that some of the girls did not even know that they had converted to Islam.

At least two of the girls, in their affidavits, admitted that they had no idea about Islam and that they had no knowledge that they had been converted.

One of the girls, Sonali (name changed) said in her affidavit that her “nikah” (muslim marriage) had been solemnised almost immediately after she converted to Islam.
“I do not remember when, I did get married....I was converted to Islam by a cleric and then was married,” she said.

None of the girls, however, have sought annulment of their marriages and instead had claimed that they were being harassed by their families and relatives and had sought protection.

The court dismissed all the petitions and refused to grant any relief terming their marriages illegal. The judgment comes amid a raging “conversion controversy” in the state.