'Organised religious conversion has shaken conscience of citizens': Plea filed in Supreme Court over TCS Nashik case

The case traces back to a complaint filed in February with the Nashik City Police by a political party worker.

New Delhi: A plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday in the aftermath of allegations of religious conversion and sexual harassment at a multinational company (MNC) in Nashik seeking directions to control deceitful religious conversion.

It was filed in the backdrop of charges of sexual harassment and allegations of forced religious conversion levelled by eight female employees at TCS' office in Nashik.

The petition filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay contended that deceitful religious conversion is not only a serious threat to sovereignty, secularism, democracy and liberty but also a menace to fraternity, dignity, unity and national integration.

The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, has sought directions to the Centre and the state governments to take stringent steps to control religious conversion.

"The organised religious conversion in Nasik has shaken the conscience of citizens throughout the country. Therefore, petitioner is filing this application for direction seeking certain directions and declarations to control deceitful religious conversion," the plea said.

The petition contended that the offence of forced conversion, when undertaken as part of a systematic, organised and coercive campaign, falls within the ambit of a "terrorist act" as defined under Section 113 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

"Forceful/deceitful religious conversion is not an isolated religious act but a systematic conspiracy often funded by foreign entities to alter the demographic balance and thereby threaten the unity, integrity and security of India. Due to this, it falls under the ambit of a terrorist act as defined under Section 15 by UAPA [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967]," the plea said.

It has also sought directions to the Centre and the states to establish special courts to deal with religious conversion cases and declare that the sentence for deceitful religious conversion shall be consecutive, not concurrent.

The petition stated that the Right to Freedom of Religion does not carry the right to convert others through fraud, force, coercion or cheating.

Article 25 gives freedom of conscience, profession, practice and propagation of religion, subject to public order, health and morality, it said.

"All persons will have the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion and not that all persons will have the right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion. It means the right to profess, practise and propagate religion is free to everyone, but cannot be practised absolutely or freely," the petition said, stating that it has conditions of public order, morality and health, and the other provisions of this part.

The freedom to act upon one's religion is not absolute, it added.

"The expression does not mean that every person is free to do whatever they wish in the name of religion. Rather, it means that everyone has the right freely to profess, practise and propagate, but this freedom itself is subject to reasonable restrictions," the plea said.

The petition has been filed by Upadhyay in his pending petition seeking direction to the Centre and the states to take tough steps to control fraudulent religious conversions.

Observing that religious conversion is a serious issue which should not be given a political colour, the top court in 2023 had sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani on the plea.