Source: The Mumbai Mirror
No government body – whether central or state – can compel an individual to declare or specify his religion in any kind of form or declaration anywhere, the Bombay High Court has ruled in a landmark judgement on Tuesday.
The division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A S Chandurkar, also ruled that “every individual has right to claim that he/she does not belong to any religion and that he does not practice or profess any religion.”
The court was ruling on a Public Interest Litigation filed by three men who had, in 2010, sought to declare via a Gazette notification that they belong to “no religion.”
The Government Printing Press, which brings out the Gazette, rejected their applications. The three – Dr Ranjeet Suryakant Mohite, Kishore Ramakant Nazare and Subhash Suryakant Ranaware – then challenged the Government Printing Press order in HC.
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Categories: Asia, Religion, Separation of Church and State
These judges must have read and understood Quran better than so many so called Scholars of Islam.
Somebody should let the Pakistan Government and the public know about this ruling, because they are ignorant of the fact that Religion is a personal matter and has nothing to do with any State. This is also in the teachings of Islam the True Islam of Prophet Muhammed saws.
Religion is a personal matter and State must not interfere in such issues. Wish GOP knew this.