The Supreme Court was deciding a case involving FIRs related to an alleged event of mass religious conversion which as per the complaint filed by VHP’s Vice President took place at the Evangelical Church of India, Hariharganj, Fatehpur in 2022.

The Supreme Court held that receiving foreign aid and carrying out charitable work, even in the name of religion, ipso facto is not a punishable offence under any of the legislations. The Court held thus in a batch of Writ Petitions and Criminal Appeals concerning six FIRs filed under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) and the U.P. Conversion Act. The two-Judge Bench comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra observed, “… we do not find from a reading of the U.P. Conversion Act that organization of religious gatherings or doing charity work in the name of religion has also been made a criminal offence. No provision in the IPC prohibits such activities too. No irregularity in the funding of the organization from international sources has been pointed out. More so, in case of any such irregularity, a number of provisions of the relevant legislations could have been invoked to deal with an erring organization. However, none of such provisions have been invoked in the present case. Receiving foreign aid and carrying out charitable work, even in the name of religion, ipso facto is not a punishable offence under any of the legislations.”

SOURCE: Verdictum