Peoples Union For Civil Liberties vs. The State Of Uttarakhand

ITEM NO.31+44+44.1+46+47+49 COURT NO.1 SECTION PIL-W

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Writ Petition(s)(Criminal) No(s).428/2020

CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH & ANR. Respondent(s)

(WITH IA No. 135049/2020 - EX-PARTE STAY, IA No. 26539/2021 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT, IA No. 135052/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT, IA No. 7691/2021 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION, IA No. 26535/2021 - STAY APPLICATION)

Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 40/2023

(FOR ADMISSION and IA No.8306/2023-EX-PARTE STAY )

WITH

W.P.(Crl.) No. 14/2023 (PIL-W) (FOR ADMISSION and IA No.10891/2023-STAY APPLICATION)

SLP (C) No(s). 19945-19946/2021 (III)

(FOR ADMISSION and I.R.)

Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 63/2022 (PIL-W)

Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s). 22733/2022

(WITH IA No.193242/2022-EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT )

Date : 16-01-2023 These matters were called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.B. PARDIWALA

For Petitioner(s)	Mr. Chander Uday Singh, Sr. Adv.
	Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, AOR
	Mr. Amjid Maqbool, Adv.
	Ms. Viddusshi Shandilya, Adv.
	Mr. Zubin John, Adv.
	Ms. Bidya Mohanty, Adv.
	Ms. Sanjana Grace Thomas, Adv.
	Ms. Mantika Vohra, Adv.

44	Mr. Sanjay Hegde, Sr. Adv.<br>Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR<br>Mr. Shahid Nadeem, Adv.<br>Mr. Saif Zia, Adv.
44.1	Mr. Chander Uday Singh, Sr. Adv.<br>Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, AOR<br>Mr. Amjid Maqbool, Adv.<br>Ms. Sanjana Grace Thomas, Adv.<br>Ms. Viddusshi Shandilya, Adv.<br>Mr. Zubin John, Adv.<br>Ms. Bidya Mohanty, Adv.<br>Ms. Mantika Vohra, Adv.
46	Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General<br>Ms. Manisha Lavkumar, Sr. Adv.<br>Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv.<br>Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv.<br>Ms. Devyani Bhatt, Adv.<br>Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR
47	Mr. Arvind Datar, Sr. Adv.<br>Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, Sr. Adv.<br>Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, Sr. Adv.<br>Mr. Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, Adv.<br>Mr. Greeshm Jain, Adv.<br>Mr. Ashwani Kumar Dubey, AOR
49	Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR<br>Mr. Prakash Sharma, Adv.<br>Mr. Anuj Saxena, Adv.
For Respondent(s)	Mr. R. Venkataramani, AG<br>Mr. Tushar Mehta, SG<br>Mr. Jayant K Sud, ASG<br>Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv.<br>Mr. Navanjay Mahapatra, Adv.<br>Mr. Pratyush Shrivastava, Adv.<br>Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR
	Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv.<br>Mr. M. R. Shamshad, AOR<br>Mr. Tahir Hakeem, Adv.<br>Mr. Niaz A. Farooqui, Adv.<br>Mr. Arijit Sarkar, Adv.<br>Ms. Nabeela Jamil, Adv.
	Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. A.A.G.<br>Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR<br>Mr. Adit Jayeshbhai Shah, Adv.<br>Ms. Priyanka Swami, Adv.

2

Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR Mr. Abhishek Chaterjee, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, A.S.G. Ms. Pratishtha Vij, Adv. Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Adv. Mr. Akshay C. Shrivastava, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR Mr. Mohammad Parvez Dabas, Adv. Mr. Uzmi Jamil Husain, Adv. Mr. Mansoor Ali Rizvi, Adv. Mr. Tabrez Ahmad, Adv. Mr. Adeel Ahmed, AOR Mr. V.K. Shukla, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rakesh Mishra, AOR Mr. Shiv Ram Pandey, Adv. Mrs. Sandhya Pandey, Adv. Ms. Mamta Kumari, Adv. Mr. Aditya Sharma, AOR Ms. Vrinda Grover, Adv. Mr. Soutuk Banerjee, Adv. Ms. Devika Tulsiani, Adv. Mr. Aakarsh Kamra, AOR Mr. Bijan Kumar Ghosh, AOR Mr. Sadashiv, AOR Ms. Priya Aristotle, AOR Mr. Dushyant Dave, Sr. Adv. Mr. Siju Thomas, Adv. Ms. Lija Merin John, Adv. Mr. Akshay Malpani, Adv. Ms. Ayushi Gaur, Adv. Mr. Robin Christopher, Adv. Ms. Masoom Rajsingh, Adv. Mrs. Sonali Suryavanshi, Adv. Mr. Anas Tanwir, AOR Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv. Mr. Dhiraj Abraham Philip, AOR Mr. V.K. Shukla, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rakesh Mishra, AOR Mr. Shiv Ram Pandey, Adv.

Mrs. Sandhya Pandey, Adv. Ms. Mamta Kumari, Adv. Mr. Ashwani Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, AOR Mrs. Rajshree Dubey, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Shukla, Adv. Mr. H.B. Dubey, Adv. Mr. Amit P Shahi, Adv. Mr. Manish Dhingra, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Yadav, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, Sr. Adv. Mr. Vikas Tiwari, Adv. Mr. Ashwini Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Shukla, Adv. Mr. A.N. Singh, Adv. Mr. Huzefa Ahmadi, Sr. Adv. Ms. Shahrukh Alam, Adv. Ms. Akriti Chaubey, AOR Mr. Shantanu Singh, Adv. Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Ms. Sonia Mathur, Sr. Adv. Mr. Simarjeet Singh Saluja, Adv. Mr. Charudatta Vijayrao Mahindrakar, AOR Mr. Ashok Basoya, Adv. Mr. Nirmal Kumar Ambastha, AOR Mr. Vinay Kr Garg, Sr. Adv. Mr. Atulesh Kumar, AOR Mr. K S Reki, Adv. Mr. Parv Garg, Adv. Mr. Pawan Kulshreshtha, Adv. Mr. Kaustubh Shukla, AOR Mr. J. Sai Deepak, Adv. Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, AOR Mr. Arjun D. Singh, Adv. Mr. Yashvir Kumar, Adv. Mr. Raju Ramachandran, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sanbha Rumnong, Adv. Mr. Jaiwant Patnakar, Adv. Mr. M.F. Philip, Adv. Ms. Purnima Krishna, AOR

Mr. Sarvesh Singh Baghel, AOR Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, AOR Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Abhimanue Shrestha, Adv. Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. Ravinder Singh, Adv. Mr. Srisatya Mohanty, Adv. Ms. Raveesha Gupta, Adv. Ms. Mantika Haryani, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Kaushik, Adv. Mr. Shreyas Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Chakravarty, Adv. Mr. Devvrat Singh, Adv. Ms. Muskan Surana, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, Adv. Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv. Mr. Chander Uday Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. P.V. Dinesh, Adv. Ms. Sunita Hazarika, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

• 1 The list of proceedings before this Court contains three petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution challenging the vires of the enactments in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand and Karnataka. Apart from the three petitions, there are two Special Leave Petitions filed respectively by the States of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh challenging interim orders passed by the High Courts of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh on 19 August 2021 and 14 November 2022 granting a stay on certain provisions of the State enactments, namely, the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act 2003 and the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 2021. There is a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution titled "In Re: The Issue of Religious Conversion".
• 2 During the course of the hearing, counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners

5

in the petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution stated that five writ petitions have been filed before the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, seven before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, two before the High Court of Gujarat, two before the High Court of Jharkhand, three before the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, one before the High Court of Karnataka and one before the High Court of Uttarakhand where the State enactments are challenged. For convenience of reference, a tabulated position of the petitions which are pending before this Court is set out below:

"ITEM<br>NO.	PARTICULARS	ISSUES<br>INVOLVED
Item<br>31	Citizens<br>for<br>Justice<br>and<br>Peace<br>v.<br>State of<br>Uttar Pradesh & Ors.<br>[W.P.<br>(Crl)<br>No.<br>428/2020]	This<br>Petition<br>Challenges<br>the<br>vires<br>of:<br>Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of<br><br>Unlawful<br>Conversion<br>of<br>Religion<br>Ordinance,<br>2020<br>Himachal<br>Pradesh<br>Freedom<br><br>of<br>Religion<br>Act,<br>2019<br>Madhya Pradesh Freedom<br><br>of Religion<br>Ordinance,<br>2020<br>Uttarakhand Freedom of<br><br>Religion Act,<br>2018<br>The Petitioner filed I.A. No. 8826<br>of 2023<br>on<br>12.01.2023<br>seeking<br>permission<br>to<br>amend<br>the writ<br>petition<br>to<br>incorporate<br>a<br>challenge<br>to<br>the<br>Uttar<br>Pradesh<br>Prohibition<br>of<br>Unlawful<br>Conversion<br>of<br>Religion<br>Act,<br>2021,<br>and<br>the<br>Madhya<br>Pradesh<br>Freedom of<br>Religion<br>Act,<br>2021,<br>in<br>place<br>of<br>the<br>earlier<br>Ordinances.
Item<br>44	Jamiat<br>Ulama-I-Hind<br>&<br>Anr.<br>v.<br>State of Uttar<br>Pradesh & Ors.<br>[W.P.<br>(C)<br>No. 40/2023]	This<br>Petition<br>Challenges<br>the<br>vires<br>of:<br><br>Uttar<br>Pradesh<br>Prohibition<br>of<br>Unlawful<br>Conversion<br>of<br>Religion<br>Act,<br>2021<br>Himachal<br>Pradesh<br><br>Freedom<br>of<br>Religion<br>Act,<br>2019<br>The<br>Madhya<br>Pradesh<br><br>Freedom<br>of<br>Religion<br>Act, 2021<br>Uttarakhand<br>Freedom<br>of<br><br>Religion<br>Act,<br>2018<br>Gujarat Freedom of<br>

		Religion<br>(Amendment)<br>Act,<br>2021
Item<br>44.1	Citizens<br>for<br>Justice<br>and<br>Peace<br>v.<br>State of<br>Chhattisgarh & Ors.<br>[W.P.<br>(Crl.)<br>No.<br>14/2023]	This<br>Petition<br>Challenges<br>the<br>vires<br>of:<br>Chhattisgarh<br>Dharma<br><br>Swantantraya<br>Adhiniyam<br>[Freedom<br>of<br>Religion]<br>Act,<br>1968<br>Gujarat<br>Freedom<br>of<br><br>Religion<br>Act,<br>2003<br>The Haryana Prevention of<br><br>Unlawful<br>Conversion<br>of<br>Religion<br>Act,<br>2022<br>Jharkhand<br>Freedom<br>of<br><br>Religion<br>Act,<br>2017<br><br>Jharkhand<br>Freedom<br>of<br>Religion<br>Rules,<br>2017<br>Karnataka<br>Protection<br>of<br><br>Freedom<br>of<br>Religion<br>Act, 2022
Item<br>46	The<br>State<br>of<br>Gujarat<br>v.<br>Jamia<br>Ulama-E-Hind<br>Gujarat & Ors.<br>[SLP<br>(C)<br>No.<br>19945-<br>19946/2021]	This<br>Special<br>Leave<br>Petition<br>challenges the<br>impugned order<br>dated 19.08.2021 passed by<br>the<br>Hon'ble High Court of Gujarat<br>wherein<br>a stay was granted on<br>Sections 3, 4, 4A to<br>4C,<br>5,<br>6<br>and<br>6A<br>of<br>the<br>Gujarat<br>Freedom<br>of<br>Religion<br>Act,<br>2003.
Item<br>47	In<br>Re:<br>The<br>Issue<br>of<br>Religious<br>Conversion<br>[W.P.<br>(C)<br>No.<br>63/2022]	This<br>petition<br>seeks<br>relief<br>against<br>forced<br>religious conversions and<br>states that such<br>conversions<br>violate<br>Article<br>14,<br>21<br>and<br>25<br>of<br>the<br>Constitution<br>The Petition also, inter alia,<br>prays for the<br>law commission to<br>prepare a report, as well<br>as<br>a<br>Bill<br>to<br>'control<br>Religious<br>conversion<br>by<br>intimidation,<br>threatening,<br>deceivingly<br>luring<br>through<br>gifts<br>and<br>monetary<br>benefits'.
Item<br>49	State<br>of<br>Madhya<br>Pradesh<br>&<br>Ors.<br>v.<br>Samuel<br>Daniel<br>[SLP<br>(C)<br>No.<br>22733/2022]	This<br>Special<br>Leave<br>Petition<br>challenges the<br>impugned order<br>dated 14.11.2022 passed by<br>the<br>Hon'ble<br>High<br>Court<br>of<br>Madhya<br>Pradesh<br>at Jabalpur wherein<br>stay<br>was granted<br>on<br>Section<br>10<br>of<br>the<br>Madhya<br>Pradesh<br>Freedom<br>of<br>Religion Act, 2021 and vires of<br>the anti-<br>conversion laws of<br>Madhya<br>Pradesh<br>was<br>in<br>question."

petitions which are instituted before diverse High Court has also been placed on the record.

• 3 Mr Kapil Sibal, senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents in SLP(C) 19945-19946 of 2021, states that in view of the pendency of the proceedings before diverse High Courts involving cognate issues, a transfer petition would be filed before this Court for the purpose of clubbing and transferring the petitions for adjudication before this Court.
• 4 We stand over these proceedings to 30 January 2023.
• 5 In the event that a transfer petition is filed in the meantime, it shall be listed with the present batch of petitions on the next date of listing.

WP(C) No 63 of 2022

• 6 Mr P Wilson, senior counsel, seeks two weeks' time to file a counter affidavit.
• 7 Time, as sought for, is granted.

WP(Crl) No 428 of 2020

• 8 IA No 8826 of 2023 seeks leave to amend the petition to challenge the Acts which have since replaced the earlier Ordinances.
• 9 Application for amendment is allowed.

(SANJAY KUMAR-I) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR) DEPUTY REGISTRAR ASSISTANT REGISTRAR