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• Voluntary conversion to Islam in 2020 and 2021
• Girls' educational documents, bank passbooks, passports were confiscated and kept in the house
• Crime under UP Anti-Conversion Act 2021 at Sadar Bazar Police Station, Agra

Allahabad High Court Verdict: The Allahabad High Court has given a landmark judgment in the illegal detention of two Sagyan sisters who voluntarily converted to Islam by their father. The court granted complete freedom to both the young women to live anywhere they wish and live with the person of their choice.

Along with this, Sagyan has ordered the girls' father and Uttar Pradesh government to jointly pay a compensation of Rs 25 lakh for violating their fundamental rights and illegally keeping them. Justice Sandeep Jain, in the order, explained that Article 21 (liberty of life and person) and Article 25 (freedom of religion and conscience) of the Constitution give every informed citizen an inalienable right to choose the religion of his choice and to live according to his own will.

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After the conversion, the father stayed in the house

Anshu Bhatia alias Amina (35) and Diya Bhatia alias Zoya (20), two daughters of Agra-based Anil Kumar Bhatia, told the court that they converted to Islam of their own free will in 2020 and 2021, but their father kept them indoors after conversion.

The father confiscated the girls' educational documents, passports, bank passbooks and identity cards and subjected them to physical and mental pressure to convert. However, the father filed a case at the Sadar Bazar police station in Agra alleging forced conversion, which later added sections of the UP Anti-Conversion Act, 2021 along with sections of the BNS. It was argued by the state government that this could be part of an organized conspiracy.

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Instructions to release both the girls

The court said that the personal freedom of two sane women and their right to freely choose their religion cannot be taken away merely on the basis of suspicion.

Personal autonomy paramount

Personal autonomy is paramount. No father can keep his child imprisoned in the home because he disagrees with religious views or personal decisions. Once the child becomes conscious, family rights are extinguished before constitutional freedoms.
– Allahabad High Court