Hearing in SC on petition against forced conversion

The Supreme Court will hear a petition demanding a law against forced conversion. This PIL has been filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay. The Supreme Court had also called it a serious matter. Along with this, the court had asked the central government to file an affidavit after discussing it with all the states. A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravivkumar is hearing the matter.
The last hearing on the matter was held on December 12. In which the Supreme Court has asked the petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay to remove the derogatory statements made against minority religions in the PIL. Along with this, ensure that such remarks do not come on record.
At the same time, Arvind Datar, appearing for the petitioner, assured to follow the directions of the court. He said that if it is a derogatory comment, he will be removed. The bench adjourned the hearing till January 9 to wait for the Central government's affidavit. The bench said that it will consider the plea of the intervenors in the next hearing.
In this petition, it was demanded that a separate law should be made to prevent such cases of religious conversions or else this crime should be included in the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It has also been stated in the petition that this issue is not related to any one place, but is the problem of the whole country which needs immediate attention.
On behalf of the Center, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that such cases of religious conversion are seen more in tribal areas. On this, the court asked him if it is so then what is the government doing. After this, the court asked the Center to clear the steps to be taken in this matter. The court also said that conversion is legal under the Constitution, but forced conversion is not.