Christian groups in India have welcomed the Delhi High Court questioning the basis for filing petitions on forced conversion.
The bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Tushar Rao Gedela on June 3 pointed out that conversion is not prohibited in India.
“It’s a right of an individual to profess any religion, religion of his birth, or religion that he chooses to profess. That’s the freedom our Constitution grants,” the court said while hearing a petition by a lawyer seeking direction to the federal and Delhi governments to prohibit religious conversion by intimidating, threatening, and deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits and by using black magic and superstition.
“An excellent move by the Delhi High Court,” says Sister Manju Devarapalli, secretary of the National Dalit Christian Watch.
The Carmelite Missionaries nun says the court’s stand co-mes at a time one was losing faith in the judiciary. “The High Court ruling comes as a soothing balm on seeming wounds, enforcing the sacredness of Indian Constitution,” she told.