The Supreme Court on Monday sought to know the status of cases pending before different high courts challenging controversial state laws regulating religious conversion due to interfaith marriages, and said if all cases are similar in nature it may transfer them all to itself. The top court also asked its registry to apprise it of the status of the appeal of the Gujarat government challenging the order of the high court which had stayed the operation of Section 5 of the state’s Freedom of Religion Act, 2003 that mandated prior permission of the district magistrate for conversion through marriage. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha asked NGO ‘Citizens for Justice and Peace’ and the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh to apprise it about the status of cases challenging the state laws on conversion through marriage. ”You all file a note indicating the status of cases, challenge to law, ordinance or amendment and stage of the proceedings before the respective High Court. We want to have conspectus of the matter. We have not taken a conclusive view but if all these cases are pari materia (on the same subject or matter) then we will transfer all of them here or if the proceedings are at an advanced stage, then we will allow the High Courts to proceed”, the bench said. The top court asked the NGO and the state governments to file their note in two weeks.
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