The Supreme Court has recently granted interim protection from arrest to the chairman of Broadwell Christian Hospital Society in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur district in a case of alleged forceful religious conversion.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government in response to the appeal filed by Mathew Samuel and others challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court. The High Court had refused to quash the proceedings in the FIR filed against them by the state police.
The bench stated, “Issue notice on the Special Leave Petition as well as on the Interlocutory Application for directions. In the meanwhile, no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioners in connection with FIR Nos 224/2022, 54/2023, 55/2023, and 60/2023, registered at Police Station Kotwali, District Fatehpur, UP.”
Senior advocate CU Singh, representing the petitioners, requested a stay on the investigation concerning the FIRs, alleging an abuse of the criminal justice process.
The high court had previously declined to quash the proceedings against Samuel and others in the FIR filed against them by the state police.
Uttar Pradesh Police registered FIRs against Samuel and others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, as well as the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, following complaints of mass religious conversion.
