HC stays parts of Gujarat's anti-conversion law to save interfaith couples from harassment

A division bench of the HC has stayed six provisions of Gujarat government's Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021, which aims to prevent "love jihad".

The Gujarat High Court has ordered a stay on as many as six sections of the state government's law to prevent "love jihad". An interim order was passed to this effect by a division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Biren Vaishnav on Thursday. In its order, the HC said that an FIR cannot be lodged unless it is established that the woman was lured for marriage on false pretenses. The bench also ruled that provisions of the law cannot apply to inter-faith marriages where there is no evidence of force or fraud.