The Arya Samaj Vivah Mandir Trust has recently received a notice from the Madhya Pradesh High Court (Gwalior Bench) over allegations that a Muslim girl had her religion changed to Hinduism in an Arya Samaj temple. The Arya Samaj Vivah Trust is thought to be violating the law by converting people to their religion, according to a division bench of Justices Rohit Arya and Milind Ramesh Phadke. This Court may invoke suo motu jurisdiction and serve notice to the above mentioned Vivah Mandir since “the abortive act of conversion by such self-styled Vivah Mandirs affects people from the Hindu and Muslim community and may generate significant law and order crisis.”
It further stated that the trust’s unscrupulous efforts to convert individuals from one faith to another without legal sanction were harmful to the social fabric and public order and could lead to widespread discontent, communal strife, and violent behaviour.
The Arya Samaj Vivah Trust is thought to be violating the law by converting people to their religion, according to a division bench of Justices Rohit Arya and Milind Ramesh Phadke. The Bench further noted that the aforementioned acts of the Vivah Trust amounted to operating marriage businesses for profit. The courts believed that this posed a major threat to the sanctity of marriages recognised by personal laws, particularly the Hindu Marriage Act.
Rahul @ Golu essentially requested his wife Hina’s release from the Nari Sudhar Grih in Morena by filing a Habeas Corpus petition with the High Court. He claimed that Hina had been unlawfully detained by police in the Grih. The petitioner alleged that he and Hina had a relationship, that they left their family and were married, and that Hina even changed her religion from Islam to Hinduism in order to do this.
The General Secretary of the Arya Samaj Vivah Mandir Trust was requested to appear in court personally in April 2022 to explain the codified/customary legislation governing the aforementioned institution’s ability to change a person’s faith, and the court took this fact seriously.
The bench stated that, Is it possible for the purported Arya Samaj Vivah Mandir Trust to accept this affidavit without further investigation and grant the petitioner and Ms Hina Khan, the daughter of Shri Istayak Khan, a marriage certificate that recognizes conversion?
Does Ms Hina Khan’s affidavit, which she allegedly gave under oath before the President/Secretary of the Arya Samaj Vivah Mandir Trust in Ghaziabad and claims to be a resident of Pichhore, Shivpuri (M.P. ), have admissible evidence regarding conversion from the Muslim to the Hindu community and vice versa?
The Court further determined that the trust’s issue of a conversion certificate was a flagrant breach of Section 5 of the 1968 Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantrya Adhiniyam. It was highlighted that the trust did not have the authority to solemnise marriages or issue marriage certificates, merely to arrange weddings in accordance with Hindu rites and customs.
“The Additional District Magistrate is directed to arrange for an in-camera video-graphed meeting of the corpus with her parents within one week from today,” the Court commanded. “Thereafter, despite meeting, if corpus, who is major, still is not inclined to go with her parents, she shall be set free forthwith to go as per her wishes.”
Advocate Suresh Agrawal represented the petitioner, and the State was represented by Additional Advocate General MPS Raghuvanshi and Deputy Advocate General Rajesh Shukla. The trust was represented by attorneys Balwant Singh Billowria and Prabhat Kumar Singh, while the court was helped by amicus curiae attorney Faisal Ali Shah.
