The Hindu Editorial with Vocab - 21st AUGUST Faith and marria | English Group "Only Achievers"
The Hindu Editorial with Vocab - 21st AUGUST
Faith and marriage: On anti-conversion laws
A regressive and patently unconstitutional feature of recent anti-conversion laws enacted by different States is the criminalisation of inter-faith marriages by treating them as a means to convert one of the parties from one religion to another. While anti-conversion laws, euphemistically called in some States as laws on ‘freedom of religion’, have always sought to criminalise conversions obtained through fraud, force or allurement, the recent enactments or amendments have created “conversion by marriage” as one of the illegal forms of conversion. In its interim order protecting parties to inter-religious marriages from needless harassment, the Gujarat HC has made it clear that the “rigours” of the State’s amendments introduced earlier this year will not apply to marriages that do not involve any fraud, force or allurement. So, it has stopped the initiation of criminal proceedings against those who have married across religious faiths, unless there was any of these illegal elements. A Bench has rejected the State government’s attempt to adopt an innocent reading of the provisions of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021, by claiming that inter-faith marriages that did not involve fraud or coercion and leading to conversion would not attract the penal provisions. The argument is obviously contrary to the wording of the amendment, which makes conversion “by marriage” or “by getting a person married” or “by aiding a person to get married” an offence. The court said, “A plain reading of Section 3 would indicate that any conversion on account of marriage is also prohibited.”
It is regrettable that Hindutva votaries continue to believe in medieval-minded laws aimed at curbing inter-faith marriages. Despite clear Supreme Court rulings that it is no more constitutional to police private lives and beliefs, sections in the polity still believe that inter-religious marriages are aimed at religious conversion, that they have an adverse impact on public order and invariably involve coercion or deceit. It was always clear to the secular minded and legal experts that constitutional courts will not see such marriages as events that impinge on public order, and that making their solemnisation a ground for prosecution under anti-conversion laws was unlikely to be upheld. It is clear that the Gujarat law’s provisions “interfere with the intricacies of marriage” and an individual’s right to choice, thereby infringing Article 21 of the Constitution. The principle that the right to marry a person of one’s choice is integral to Article 21 flows from the verdict in Shafin Jahan vs Asokan. The order stalling criminal action against those entering into a valid inter-faith marriage constitutes a significant judicial pushback against disconcerting attempts by various States to foment communal divides through dubious legislation.
CREDIT SOURCE - THE HINDU
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1. Patently (Adv)- clearly; without doubt. स्पष्ट तौर पर
2. Euphemistically (Adv)- in a way that makes something embarrassing or unpleasant seem more acceptable than it really is.
3. Conversion (N)- the act or process of changing from one form, system or use to another
4. Rigours (N)- the quality of being strict (कड़ाई, सख़्ती, कठोरता)
5. Coercion (N)- the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats. दबाव
6. Invariably (Adj)- in every case or on every occasion; always.
7. Impinge On (Phrasal Verb)- to have a bad effect on something.
8. Solemnisation (N)- the public performance of a sacrament or solemn ceremony with all appropriate ritual.
9. Intricacies (N)- the complicated parts or details of something. जटिलता, कठिनता
10. Pushback (N)- resistance to a change that has been introduced.
11. Disconcerting (Adj.)- making someone feel uncertain and uncomfortable or worried
12. Foment (V)- to cause trouble or violence and make people fight each other or the government
