The Supreme Court on Monday reaffirmed that forced religious conversion is a "serious issue" and it is against the Constitution. The Supreme Court asked Centre to file a detailed affidavit after collecting information from state governments on anti-conversion laws and posted the matter for hearing on December 12.
The apex court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking direction to the Centre and states to take stringent steps to control fraudulent religious conversion by "intimidation, threatening, deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits," the news agency PTI reported.
The Centre informed the court that it is collecting information on religious conversion from the states.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared before a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar and asked for more time to furnish detailed information on the matter.
"We are gathering information from the states. Give us a week's time," Mehta said.
He said statutory the regime will determine whether a person is converting due to some change in belief, PTI reported.
The top court acknowledged that forced religious conversion is a very serious matter.
When a lawyer questioned the maintainability of the plea, the bench said, "Do not be so technical. We are here to find a solution. We are here for a cause. We are here to set things right. If the purpose of the charity is good then it is welcome but what is required to be considered is the intention."
"Do not take it as adversarial. It is a very serious issue. Ultimately it is against our Constitution. When everyone stays in India, they have to act per the culture of India," the bench observed.
The apex court will now take up the matter on December 12.
The top court had recently said that forced religious conversion may pose a danger to national security and impinge on the religious freedom of citizens and it asked the Centre to step in and make sincere efforts to tackle the "very serious" issue.
(With inputs from PTI)