Supreme Court asks Attorney General to assist in religious conversions case

A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar slammed the Tamil Nadu government for their opposition to a new plea asking for an investigation by NIA

The Supreme Court on Monday asked for the assistance of Attorney General for India R Venkataramani on a plea against alleged forceful and deceitful religious conversions in the country.

A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar slammed the Tamil Nadu government for their opposition to a new plea asking for an investigation by the National Investigation of India (NIA) into the death of a student in Thanjavur.

The Tamil Nadu government said this new plea was baseless and should not be entertained. "This is a politically motivated PIL. There is no question of such conversions in Tamil Nadu. Let the legislature decide such things," Senior Advocate P Wilson, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, said. 

The court, however, said that forced religious conversions were a serious issue and that it will look into it. "We are concerned for the entire country. If it is happening in your State, it is bad. If not, good. Do not make it political," Justice Shah remarked.

The Court directed Tamil Nadu to file its response to the Thanjavur suicide plea and said that even if the main petition was filed by a BJP man, they will hear the matter on the merits of the issue. 

It also asked the Attorney General to assist in the matter either as Amicus Curiae(friend of the court) or otherwise.

The matter will be heard again in February.

The main plea against forced religious conversions was filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay. The public interest litigation (PIL) petition claimed that fraudulent and deceitful religious conversion is rampant across the country and that the Central government has failed to control its menace.