The Allahabad High Court has ordered the Uttar Pradesh government and the father of two women, who voluntarily converted to Islam, to pay them Rs 25 lakh in compensation for unlawfully confining them.

In a judgement delivered on August 6, Justice Sandeep Jain also ordered that the sisters be released. ,

Jain held that they were liable to get compensation for the “unlawful deprivation” of their fundamental rights. Their confinement amounted to “an exceptionally grave and egregious violation of constitutional rights”, he added.

The two sisters, aged 20 and 35, had told the court that they had voluntarily converted from Hinduism to Islam and decided to marry as per their own wishes, which was their fundamental right. They denied having changed their faith because of force, fraud or “undue influence”.

The sisters alleged that their father had confined them inside their paternal home after they converted.

In his judgement, Jain said that he interacted independently with both women and found that their responses were “spontaneous, coherent and unequivocal”. The judge held that the sisters, as adults, had the legal capacity to take decisions about their lives.

“Once an individual attains majority, the Constitution recognises her autonomy to take decisions relating to faith, belief, residence, association and every other facet of personal liberty, subject only to restrictions sanctioned by law,” the High Court noted.

The court said that an individual’s freedom of conscience under Article 25 of the Constitution includes the right to adopt, renounce or change her faith. “Such a choice is an essential facet of individual autonomy, dignity and personal liberty protected not only under Article 25 but also under Article 21 of the Constitution [right to life and personal liberty],” it observed.

The Uttar Pradesh government opposed the habeas corpus petition, noting that the father of the women had lodged a first information report alleging forcible and fraudulent conversion. A habeas corpus is a petition through which a court can order the authorities to bring a person before it to verify if they have been unlawfully detained.

The government claimed that the conversion formed part of a larger conspiracy which has ramifications on the “sovereignty, integrity and unity of the nation”.

The High Court, however, said that the question of whether the conversion complied with the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act would not authorise the continued confinement of the two women.

“The legality of the conversion and the legality of their detention constitute two distinct and independent issues,” Jain said.

The court ordered the father not to interfere with the women’s personal liberty and religious choices. It also told him to hand over their passports, educational certificates, conversion-related documents and other belongings to them within seven days.

Written by Neerad Pandharipande. Edited by Sneha.

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