“The Ordinance Is A Grave and Baneful Encroachment by The State into The Fundamental Rights of An Individual “Madhya Pradesh Freedom Of Religion Ordinance 2020 Challenged In Apex Court
(Judicial Quest News Network)
A petition Challenging the constitutional validity of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance,202o has been filed before Supreme Court on Monday.
It is submitted that the ordinance is violative of Article 14,19,21 and 25 of the constitution of India.
Earlier the UP
Unlawful Conversion of ReliginOrdinance,2020 and Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion ACrt.2018 has been challenged before the Supreme Court.
The petition is filed by Advocate on Record, Aldanish Rein and drawn by Advocates Rajesh Inamdar, Shashwat Anand, Devesh Sexena, Ashutosh Mani Tripathi and Ankur Azad.
It is averred that “the impugned Ordinance is a grave, immoral, arbitrary, unreasonable, disproportionate, malicious, unwarranted, uncalled for, illegal, grievous and baneful encroachment by the State into the paramount fundamental rights and personal autonomy of an individual, inter alia, Right to Life and Personal Liberty, Right to Privacy, Right to Freedom of Choosing Partner, to Live with Dignity, Right to Equal Protection of the Laws, Right to Freedom of Expression, Right to Freedom of Conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of Religion, etc., as guaranteed by Articles 14, 19, 21 and 25 of the Constitution of India, 1950, which forms the suprema lex and the Grundnorm of the countr”
The petitioner further submits that the Arabic term ‘Jihad,’ mostly used in the Islamic context to mean ‘striving’ or ‘struggling’ as ‘a personal struggle in devotion to Islam especially involving spiritual discipline,’ or ‘a spiritual crusade for a principle or belief for the sake of God/Allah.’ The usage of the said term in the context of the impugned ordinance, clearly illustrates the abuse of legislative power of the State to further communal, divisive, schismatic and fissiparous ends, which must be strictly reprimanded and nipped in the very bud by this Hon’ble Court.
It has been futher contended that the Ordinance is does not have any statistical data to bring on record by Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs told the Parliament that no such case has been reported by any central agency. Further, there seems to be absolutely no data on ‘love jihad’ available with any government agency or department. A true copy of the Questionnaire answered by the Shri G. Kishan Reddy, Minister of State in Home Affairs dt. 04.02.2020, stating that there’s no data available with the Central Agencies as to ‘Love Jihad’
organized conspiracy behind the cases of inter-faith marriages which were put under scanner.
the law which seeks to preserve the power asymmetries in the existing social hierarchies negates the concept of transformative constitutionalism by coercing an individual to lay down his treasured fundamental rights before the State-sponsored status quo. Furthermore, the law acts as a juggernaut for hateful, divisive and schismatic propaganda by fanning communal passions, and this Hon’ble Court must denounce it and strike it down to the abyss of oblivion.
The petitioner have sought a direction from the Court to declare the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance,2020 as unconstitutional and Void
