Forcing spouse to convert in inter-faith marriage amounts to mental cruelty, violates right to life: Madras HC

The Madras High Court has ruled that persistently coercing a spouse to convert to the other’s religion in an interfaith marriage constitutes cruelty, reinforcing that such acts infringe upon fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

Forcing spouse to convert in inter-faith marriage amounts to mental cruelty, violates right to life: Madras HC shk

 

The Madras High Court has ruled that persistently coercing a spouse to convert to the other’s religion in an interfaith marriage constitutes cruelty, reinforcing that such acts infringe upon fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

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A division bench comprising Justice N Seshasayee (now retired) and Justice Victoria Gowri upheld a Special Court’s decision to dissolve the marriage of a Hindu woman who had been pressured by her Muslim husband to convert to Islam. The bench ruled that compelling religious conversion in a matrimonial relationship not only amounts to cruelty but also violates Articles 21 and 25 of the Constitution, which safeguard an individual’s right to life, liberty, and religious freedom.

Religious coercion: A violation of life and liberty

“When a husband or wife in a matrimonial life is subjected to consistent and persistent cruelty compelling them to convert into the other one's religion to which one of the spouses belongs to, such a circumstance would certainly amount to curtailment of life and liberty ensured by Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Denial of right to freely profess and practice one's religion and compelling him or her to convert to the religion of the other, would deprive the victim of his/her life and personal liberty,” the court stated.

The bench emphasized that forcing a spouse to relinquish their faith in the name of marriage degrades their dignity and destroys the very foundation of matrimonial union. It observed that denying an individual the freedom to profess their religion results in a "lifeless life without dignity."

What's the case?

The case stemmed from a plea filed by a Muslim husband challenging a Family Court’s verdict that dissolved his marriage to a Hindu woman. The woman had sought divorce on grounds of cruelty and desertion, alleging that her husband had persistently pressured her to convert to Islam and even hurled caste-based abuses at her.

While the husband denied the accusations, contending that no concrete evidence proved his wife had been forced into conversion, the court found otherwise. The judgment noted that the husband subjected his wife to relentless psychological and emotional abuse, including attempts to change her name and dictate her religious beliefs. The court also observed that he had abandoned the matrimonial home and lived separately with his sister for over two years.

The court underscored that although the couple had entered into the marriage out of love, the husband weaponized faith as a tool of coercion. Notably, the bench remarked:

“In the name of love, he had love-locked the respondent wife to fall for him in the name of marriage and had enticed her heart, which led her to commit with him in the relationship of marriage, though without converting herself to Islam… She continued to remain a Hindu even during her marriage and even after the birth of her children, but the appellant with the wicked mind and with his continued perseverance, kept on pestering her to convert to Islam consistently and went to the extent of even changing her name.”

The court also took note of an instance where the wife had sought reconciliation through Jamaat, the husband’s religious group, only for the husband to execute a consent deed expressing his willingness to separate.

Finding the husband’s conduct deeply distressing, the bench ruled that the relentless pressure to convert, coupled with desertion, inflicted severe mental agony and suffering upon the wife. The judgment categorically stated that proselytizing a spouse against their will is nothing short of "absolute violence."

“The conduct inflicted by the appellant on the respondent wife had caused grave mental pain and suffering to the respondent wife compelling her to convert to Islam shattering her belief system and damaging her conscience, which in due course of time had evolved into a challenge to her life and personal liberty to live up to her conscience and belief system,” the court held.

Also read: Man who burnt Quran in 2023, sparking massive protests, shot dead in Sweden

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