‘Religious Conversion Of Spouse Without Consent Is Absolute Violence’, Rules Madras HC; Hindu Woman’s Divorce Upheld

Chennai: Coercing a spouse for religious conversion amounts to cruelty, the Madurai bench of Madras High Court has ruled.

Dissolving a marriage, a division bench of Justices N Seshasayee and L Victoria Gowri said, “Not only conversion, but also effort to proselytise a spouse to the religion of another without their consent is nothing but absolute violence.”

The court was hearing a civil miscellaneous appeal filed by a Muslim man, contesting the family court’s decision to grant divorce to his Hindu wife.

The case was came up after the wife filed a petition against her husband alleging that he subjected her to physical and emotional abuse while also pressuring her to convert to Islam. This despite the couple having married in 1992 under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, allowing them to retain their respective religions.

The woman claimed that after marriage, the husband not only forced her to change her faith but also attempted to alter her cultural identity by insisting she replace her ‘thali’ (a sacred Hindu matrimonial symbol).

The Tiruchirappalli family court granted her divorce on the grounds of cruelty and desertion. The husband challenged that decision, but the high court found no merit in his appeal.

Justices Seshasayee and Gowri’s vedict was based on key documents, including a letter from the husband admitting to his marital separation and a consent deed acknowledging willingness for divorce. The high court said that the appellant had withdrawn from marital relationship and was residing separately, which reinforced the wife’s claim of desertion.