Hindu man approaches Gujarat High Court to embrace Islam

New Delhi, 06 Feb 2021 [Fik/News Sources]: Jignesh Patel, a 32-year-old man, has approached the Gujarat High Court seeking a direction to authorities in the state’s Bharuch district to permit him to convert to Islam with immediate effects.

In line with Guarat’s anti-conversion law, Patel had submitted a petition to the District Collector on November 26, 2019 with the declaration that he is neither under pressure nor is he doing so out of greed for conversion. However, the collector had been holding the application.

In a recent order, Justice Bela Trivedi directed the district collector to decide on Mr Patel’s application “as expeditiously as possible”, preferably within eight weeks.

“The application seeking permission of the collector at Bharuch is pending for more than a year. The petition was filed to direct the collector to decide on the application,” Mr Patel’s lawyer M.T. Syed said.

The sub-divisional magistrate’s report established that Jignesh Patel was not under pressure to convert, as mandated in the state’s anti-conversion law, Mr Saiyad said.