Justice Madan Lokur, former SC Judge criticized the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of unlawful Conversion of Religious Ordinance, 2020 which was brought last week to criminalize religious conversion by marriage, and said that it’s “placing on the backseat the freedom of choice and dignity. States of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Assam is planning to come up with similar ordinances. The purpose of this law is to prohibit what is popularly known as love jihad.”
Justice Lokur who is now Judge of SC of Fiji while addressing the audience via virtual lecture on November 29th on the topic- “Judiciary and Social Justice, Dignity and Personal Liberty- Human Rights and Fright” said that Judiciary has traveled a long distance and so far as personal liberty concerned, according to him the courts now seem to be going in reverse.
Justice Lokur also indicated how dissent is being now deemed as sedition very often, which is in turn being treated as an offence under the UAPA, warned that soon enough any such offence would begin to attract the National Security Act, which leads to the frightening prospect of the invocation of the preventive detention law.
“Courts need to walk the talk, otherwise like Humpty Dumpty, there will be a great fall of social values, which nobody will be able to put together again. Rights would then turn into frights” said Justice Lokur.
