Bombay HC issue notice to Maharashtra govt in plea seeking to quash Government Resolution on inter-religious marriages
The Hindu
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the State and directed it to file its reply within two weeks
The Bombay High Court on July 5 directed the Maharashtra government to reply to a plea filed by four non-governmental organizations (NGO) seeking a direction to quash the government resolution (GR) that led to the formation of a committee to track inter-religious marriages in the State.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Arif Doctor was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Citizens for Justice and Peace, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Forum Against Oppression of Women and Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy.
The court on Wednesday issued a notice to the State and directed it to file its reply within two weeks. The NGOs are challenging the GR dated December 15, 2022 by way of which an interfaith marriage family coordination committee headed by Maharashtra’s State Women and Child Development Minister was constituted. This committee seeks to track information about women in inter-religious marriages and is an attack on the agency of such marriages.
The PIL states the GR contravenes Articles 14 (equality before law), 15 (prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth), 19 (freedom of speech and expression), 21 (right to life and personal liberty) and 25 (freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion) of the Constitution of India. The PIL reads, “The GR is against the rights of all women, and is a serious attack on the freedom to practice one’s faith and religion. The resolution encourages negative public perception against inter-religious marriages and widens the divide amongst different religious communities and goes against the secular thread of Indian democracy.”
The court also has before it a similar petition filed by Rais Shaikh, a member of the Legislative Assembly, challenging the GR and urging the court to quash it.
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