The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday asked the State Government to reply to a petition filed by a woman and her husband seeking to quash an FIR under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021 [‘Anti Love Jihad’ law] allegedly registered by a wife against her husband.
Divyaben came before the Court and admitted that the FIR had been registered by the Police when she went to a local police station in Vadodara to report a petty marital conflict and brought the Love-Jihad angle and even included incorrect information and allegations that she never made.
As per the FIR, Divyaben had earlier accused her husband, Sameer Qureshi his parents and the priests to have forcibly converted her religion through marriage. The FIR references oral and anal intercourse, allegations of taking her obscene pictures that caused her conversion which was forced. The plea states that all of the extremely personal details were added without her consent.
The plea also stated that both, Divyaben and Sameer were in a relationship for two years before they were married and were entirely aware of each other’s religion and still made the decision to marry each other.
Divyaben further informed the Bench of Justice Ilesh J Vora that she wished to continue her married life and demanded to repeal the FIR that was registered against her husband, Sameer Qureshi.
However, the government objected to the request of the wife to negate the FIR. Thus, the court issued a notice seeking the government’s response.
Last month, the Gujarat High Court passed an interim order that the provisions of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021, will not apply to inter-faith marriages that took place without force, fraudulent or allurement means to avoid the parties of inter-faith marriage to be harassed unnecessarily.
The plea mentions that the marriage was notarized and registered under the Special Marriage Act and that Divyaben’s father stood as a witness in their marriage.
