BJP Chief writes to Benedict XVI on conversion

Mr. Singh in his letter states that the Pope’s remarks over religious intolerance in India and banning of conversion is unconstitutional has pained people all over India.

India’s Supreme Court in a 1977 judgment in the Rev S Stanislaus versus state of Madhya Pradesh upheld the constitutional validity of conversion-prohibiting laws enacted by Madhya Pradesh and Orissa governments. The two states which were then controlled by the Congress had passed anti-conversion law in 1967 and 1968, he said.