No case of forced conversion in Tamil Nadu, Supreme Court told

“The petitioner claims that incidents are reported every week throughout the country where religious conversion is done by intimidating, threatening, deceivingly, luring through gifts and also by using black magic and superstition. The petitioner does not rely upon statistics for this grave allegation and therefore it cannot be accepted,” it stated.

“Be that as it may, it is submitted that in the State of Tamil Nadu there are no incidents of forceful religious conversion in the past few years,” the affidavit noted.

Agreeing that “religious conversion by intimidating, threatening, deceivingly, luring through gifts and also by using black magic and superstition is an injustice and exploitation”, the state government stated in the affidavit that “these factors depend upon how an individual has perceived it and it is always left open to that individual to return to his original denomination. But without intimidation, threatening, deception, luring through gifts and without using any superstitious methods, any person has the right to propagate and preach his belief system to other persons.”

“The people also have a choice to change their beliefs,” the state maintained. It asserted that “conversion of poor people to other religions by intimidating, threatening, deceivingly, luring through gifts and also by using black magic and superstition are not reported in Tamil Nadu”.

On the question of conversions by Christian missionaries, the state said that “Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to propagate his religion” and “therefore, the acts of missionaries spreading Christianity by itself cannot be seen as something against law”. But, it stated, “if their act of spreading their religion is against public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of Part III of the Constitution, it has to be viewed seriously. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, there have been no incidents of forceful conversion reported in the past many years…. Deceitful religious conversion is not happening here.”

In his plea, Upadhyay also sought a CBI probe into the death of a Class XII student of a school in Thanjavur district on January 19, 2022.

The girl’s death sparked a row after her parents and the BJP alleged that she died by suicide as she was under pressure to convert to Christianity.

The government, in its affidavit, pointed out that the case had already been handed over to CBI following Madras High Court’s order. It alleged that the petitioner belongs to the BJP and “has attempted to convert the court proceeding into a political fight by bringing in ideological politics into the matter. All the allegations made against the Government of Tamil Nadu are politically motivated. There are no instances of forceful conversion of religion reported in Tamil Nadu and the State has not done anything in Lavanya’s case as alleged by the petitioner”.