PRAYAGRAJ (UP): The Allahabad High Court on Friday refused to stay the Uttar Pradesh government’s ordinance to ban unlawful religious conversions, but issued notices to the state and others on a bunch of PILs that challenged the law.

The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 was promulgated in November to prohibit religious conversions in the name of ‘love jihad’.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Piyush Agrawal asked the state government to file a counter affidavit by January 4 and fixed the case for hearing on January 7, 2021.

The bench, however, refused to grant any interim relief in the form of a stay order.

As per the ordinance to ban unlawful religious conversions, the onus was put on the defendant to prove that the conversion was not for marriage.

It provides for 1-5 year imprisonment if an accused fails to prove that the conversion of the woman was not for marriage or by use of force, allurement etc.