SC to hear on April 16 pleas over religious conversions

new delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on April 16, a batch of pleas relating to the issue of religious conversions in the country.

While some pleas have challenged the anti-conversion laws in several states, another petition has sought a relief against forced religious conversions.

The April 16 causelist on the apex court website shows the matter would come up before a bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan.

During the hearing in one of the pleas in January 2023, the apex court observed religious conversions was a serious issue and should not be given a political colour. It had sought the assistance of attorney general R Venkataramani on a plea seeking direction to the Centre and states to take stringent steps to control the alleged fraudulent religious conversions.

The plea sought a check on religious conversions through “intimidation, threatening, deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits”.