INDIAN CIVIL LAWS GOVERNING RELIGIOUS CONVERSION
Keywords:
Civil Laws, CONVERSION, FreedomAbstract
In the Constitution of India, adopted in the Constituent Assembly as the Law of the Land on November 26, 1949, the fourth fundamental right of all the citizens of India is titled as “Right to Freedom of Religion.” This fundamental right is formulated in Article 25 of the Constitution as follows:
Art. 25. (1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice, and propagate religion.
(2) Nothing in this article affect the operation of any existing law:
(a) regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice;
(b) providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus.
References
Achārya Durga Das Basu, Shorter Constitution of India, New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India, 12th ed., 1996.
Basu, Shorter Constitution of India, 217. Refer also the case of Stanislaus v. MP State (A 1975 M.P.163 [166]).
The case of Jagadiswaranand v. Police Commissioner (A.1984 SC. 51) as quoted in Basu, Shorter Constitution of India, 218.
The case of Digyadarsan v. State of A.P. (A.1970, SC. 181).
The case of Venkataramana v. State of Mysore (A.1958, SC. 255).
The case Stanislaus v. M.P. State (A 1975 M.P.163 (166).
The case of Bommai v. Union of India (A.1994, SC. 1918).
B. Shiva Rao, The Framing of India’s Constitution: A Study, New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Public Administration, 1968, 170-318.
Julian Saldana, Conversion and Indian Civil Law, Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1981, 144ff.
Report of the CBCI, November-December, 1958, 171.
William Lourdayyan, Conversion Debate and the Holocaust, 1999, 118.
Ishanand Vempeny, Conversion: National Debate or Dialogue, Anand: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1999.
J. F. Seunarine, Reconversion to Hinduism through Suddhi, Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1977.
