‘It’s a menace’: Centre to SC on forced religious conversion

The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the issue of forced religious conversion “is a menace”, and it is cognizant of the gravity and the seriousness of the issue.A bench comprising justices M.R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar, at the beginning of the hearing, said “this is a serious issue”. Citing Centre’s reply in the matter, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, this “is a menace”.Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing on behalf of an intervenor, submitted that the petition is not maintainable and pointed out that the same petition was filed twice earlier and then withdrawn.Petitioner advocate Ashwini Upadhyay opposed the plea for intervention saying that there will be a flood of applications if the present application is allowed.The bench scheduled the matter for further hearing on December 5, as the matter came up for hearing when court was rising for the day.The Ministry of Home Affairs, in an affidavit, said it is cognizant of the gravity and the seriousness of the issue raised in the present writ petition and enactments are necessary for protecting cherished rights of vulnerable sections of the society including women and economically and socially backward classes.