NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY ODISHA

14TH INTRA UNIVERSITY MOOT COURT COMPETITION 2023

(PHASE II)

MOOT PROPOSITION*

* The moot proposition is drafted by Mr Mayank Sapra, our Alumni of 2014 Batch, an independent
practitioner in the Supreme Court of India, and Mr Adish Rajvanshi, our alumni of 2016 Batch, Senior
Associate, NSA Chambers.

If any participant or their affiliates, directly or indirectly, attempts to contact the drafters of the moot
proposition in any manner whatsoever, the same would lead to immediate disqualification of the
participant from the 14th IUMCC Phase II, 2023.
 14TH INTRA UNIVERSITY MOOT COURT COMPETITION MOOT 2023 (PHASE II)

MOOT PROBLEM

1. Mirzabeg is a small town in the State of Uttam Pradesh, a landlocked state in Islandia. Being
one of the biggest states in the country, both by land size and population, is home to people
from multiple religions and sects. The huge politicalsignificance of the State of Uttam Pradesh
was but a corollary. Infact, civil unrest and constant conflicts on the basis of differing
ideologies was nothing uncommonto the several towns of Uttam Pradesh and the people
living in them.

2. The town of Mirzabeg was no different; specially since its Muslim population could not
evidently be said to be the minority population, which was otherwise commonplace through
other parts of the State of Uttam Pradesh. At the recently concluded Legislative Assembly
elections in 2021, Mr. Akhandanand Tripathi, candidate, Mr. Sardar Khan, who had been
successively elected thrice as the MLAfor the town of Mirzabeg.

3. Munna, a 28-year-old professional, was born and brought up in Mirzabeg. During his time at
school, he was dynamic and hard-working, and performed well both in the field of academics
and sports. He was brought up as one among 5 siblings in aconservative family with staunch
religious values. Munna for his outgoing nature was always considered to be the black sheep
in the family. Often travelling intra- city, one would come across the High Court for the State
of Uttam Pradesh which was seated centrally in the town of Mirzabeg. Thus, enamoured with
the majesty of the High Court, Munna developed, with time, a keen interest in the area of
law.He pursued his interest in law by cracking the NLAT (National Law Admission Test) and
qualifying himself for a seat at the prestigious National Law University Oasia. Upon the
completion of his degree, he returned to his hometown to take upthe practice of law as an
advocate. He always was fascinated by Shahjahanabad, the capital of Islandia and dreamt of
setting up his practice there being the hub of commercial litigation and the seat of the
Supreme Court of Islandia.

4. Dimpy Sharma, a 23-year-old IT professional, was born and brought up in Mirzabeg. Her
parents, fearing the safety of the entire family, shifted to the suburbs of Mirzabeg around the
year 2005 after they were forced to vacate their ancestral home owing to communal tensions
and having gotten caught in the crossfire on more than one occasion. This resulted in Dimpy
having a disturbed childhood leading to health issues arising from instability and anxiety. Her
parents often felt compelled to intervene in unfavourable social circumstances. Thus,
concerned for her well-being, she was not allowed to go out often until she completed her

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Engineering degree.

5. Munna and Dimpy met at a house party of a mutual friend in September, 2022. They instantly
hit it off and commenced talking to each other over the popular messaging service ChatG.
Soon they started conversing telephonically and eventually started meeting each other. It was
not long before they were convinced of entering into a relationship around the month of
October, 2022. Being from the town of Mirzabeg, the opportunities to meet each other were
few and far between with any attempt to meet for coffee also possible when coming out to
finish other chores, or when it was preceded by some amount of planning and concocting
lies to be told at home. Both were like minded and had a liberal approach to worldly affairs
which appropriately informed their daily conversations interspersed with frequent quarrels.

6. On the fateful morning of 04.12.2022 when Munna and Dimpy were seated at the Islandian
Coffee House, they were spotted by one of her relatives who promptly informed Dimpy’s
parents. This led Dimpy’s parents to initiate inquiries about Munna which made them aware
of the ongoing relationship between the two. Upon being asked if Munna was a Muslim,
Dimpy said that that was not something that they had spoken about and that she had no
reason to believe him to be a devout Muslim. Not happy with the fact that Dimpy was
engaged in a pre-marital relationship coupled with concern for the safety of their young
daughter and possible loss of reputation in society, her parents asked her to break it off
immediately. Dimpy responded with defiance and refused to break up with Munna,who by
then was a prominent local leader in Mirzabeg.

7. At the earliest opportunity, Munna was informed of the developments by Dimpy. Munna
responded by saying that he intended to marry her and that if it was going to be a problem,
they could also elope to Shahjahanabad where he had a couple ofclose friends and extended
family. In view of the circumstances at her home and having accepted Munna’s proposal to
marry her, Dimpy thought it best to get married first and then seek the blessings of her
parents. She informed her parents that she needs to travel to Shahjahanabad on an urgent work
assignment for a periodof two months.

8. Munna and Dimpy travelled to Shahjahanabad on 27.12.2022 where they got married to each
other in the office of the Sub-Registrar and the marriage was registered on the same date. The
marriage was registered as a Special Marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1996. However,
Dimpy decided to take Munna’s surname and was now registered as his wife by the name of
Mrs. Dimpy Zaidi. Once all formalities had been completed, they travelled back to Mirzabeg
on 01.01.2023 where both of them met with Dimpy’s parents and informed them of the

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marriage and that they intended to settle down in Shahjahanabad. The parents did not receive
the news well and were in a state of shock to learn that Dimpy hadmarried a Muslim. Steps
had to be taken by Dimpy and her mother to ensure that ascuffle did not follow. The parents
inquired from Dimpy as to when did she come to know that Munna was, in fact, a Muslim, to
which they both responded by saying that it no longer mattered. Thereafter, the parents
appeared to be on board with themarriage. They also requested Munna to travel back to
Shahjahanabad as there were some ceremonies to be performed within the first week of the
marriage for which Dimpy’s presence was required.

9. Munna bid goodbye to Dimpy and his in-laws and left for Shahjahanabad on 03.01.2023.
While making reservations for his travel to Shahjahanabad, Munna also booked a ticket for
Dimpy for her travel to Shahjahanabad a week later on 10.01.2023. Munna and Dimpy were
in regular contact. However, there was no contact towards the latter part of the week as
Munna got involved in work and Dimpy in the said ceremonies. Munna did not hear from
Dimpy even on the dayshe was scheduled to travel. He made several calls and sent multiple
messages to establish contact but failed to do so. As he started to get worried, Munna also
requested Lalit, a friend in Mirzabeg to check-up on Dimpy at her house. Munna was
informed by Lalit that he had found the house locked. Munna then called up his father-in-
law, a renowned and upright advocate in Mirzabeg, only to receive ambiguous monotone
replies refusing to divulge any pertinent information about their whereabouts.

10. Feeling helpless and angry, Munna visited the Andheri Chowk Police Station in
Shahjahanabad to lodge a complaint against his in-laws for the offence of abduction and
wrongful confinement on 15.01.2022. However, the police were uncooperative and dilly-
dallied the registration of the complaint on some ground or the other, primarily of which was
the complaint’s maintainability as the accusation was against the parents of the abductee itself.

11. After the passage of a week and having not received any help from the authorities,Munna
decided to take judicial recourse by invoking the extraordinary jurisdictionof the High Court
of Shahjahanabad. He moved a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of Islandia, after
having completed advance service on the Respondents, before the High Court of
Shahjahanabad (SHC) praying for the issuance of a writ of Habeas Corpus to the
Shahjahanabad Police represented by the Station House Officer, Andheri Chowk.

12. Contemporaneously, the parents-in-law of Munna filed a First Information Report on

14.01.2021 alleging contravention of Section 3 of the Anti- Conversion Act, 2021 of the State
of Uttam Pradesh The relevant provisions of the Anti Conversion Act, 2021, are as follows :

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2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) “Allurement” means and includes offer of any temptation in the form of :
(i) any gift, gratification, easy money or materialbenefit either in cash or
kind;

(ii) employment, free education in reputed school run by any religious body; or

(iii) better lifestyle, divine displeasure or otherwise;

(b) “Coercion” means compelling an individual to act against his/her will by the use of
psychological or physicalforce causing bodily injury or threat thereof;

(c) “Conversion” means renouncing one’s own religion and adopting another religion

(d) “Force” includes a show of force or a threat of injury of any kind to the kind converted
or sought to be convertedor to any other person or property;

(e) “Fraudulent means” includes impersonation of any kind, impersonation by false

name, surname, religioussymbol or otherwise;

(f) “Religion” means any organized system of worship pattern, faith, belief, worship or
lifestyle, as prevailing in India or any part of it, and defined under ay law or custom
for the time being in force;

(g) “Undue Influence” means the unconscientious use by one person of his/her power or
influence over another in order to persuade the other to act in accordance with the will
of the person exercising such influence.

(h) “Unlawful Conversion” means any conversion not in accordance with law of the land.

3. No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directlyor otherwise, any other person from
one religion to another byuse or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion,
allurement, marriage or by any fraudulent means. No person shall abet, convince or conspire such
conversion:

Provided that, if any person reconverts to his/her immediate previous religion, the same shall
not be deemed to be a conversion under this Act.

4. Any aggrieved person, his/her parents, brother, sister, or any other person who is related to
him/her by blood, marriage or adoption may lodge a First Information Report of such
conversion which contravenes the provisions of Section 3.

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5. (1) Whoever contravenes the provisions of section 3 shall, without prejudice to any civil
liability, be punished with imprisonment for a term, which shall be not be less than one years
but may extend for five years and shall be liable to fine which shall not be less than fifteen
thousand;

(2) The Court shall also grant appropriate compensation payable by the accused to victim of
said conversion which mayextend maximum to rupees five lakh and shall be in addition tofine.

6. (1) One who desires to convert his/her religion, shall give adeclaration in the form prescribed
by the government at least six days in advance, to the District Magistrate or the Additional
District Magistrate specially authorized by District Magistrate, that he wishes to convert
his/her religion on his/her own and with his/her free consent and without any force,
coercion, undue influence or allurement.

13. The Shahjahanabad High Court took up the Petition on an urgent basis where the
Respondents entered appearance on advance service and stated that they had lodged a FIR
alleging contravention of Section 3 of The Anti-Conversion Act, 2021. After hearing the
contentions made on behalf of the Respondents, the High Court was ofthe prima facie opinion
that, subject to the petition being maintainable, a proper adjudication of the issues raised by
the petition would require delving into the issueregarding the contravention of Section 3 and
a decision on the prayer for a writ of Habeas Corpus. On this prima facie basis, the High Court
also framed an issue pertaining to the contravention of Section 3.

14. The High Court proceeded to renotify the Petition for arguments after admission.

15. In the intervening period, the High Court notified, with the approval of the Chief Justice, a
fresh roster of sitting of the Hon’ble Judges of the High Court whereby afresh bench was
constituted to hear petitions praying for the issuance of writs, inparticular, Habeas Corpus.

16. Pleadings are now complete in the matter. Accordingly, the matter will be taken upfor
arguments by a division bench of the High Court of Shahjahanabad.

Note: The laws of the Republic of Islandia, and the States of Shahjahanabad and UttamPradesh
are pari materia with those of the laws of the Republic of India, with necessarychanges mutatis
mutandis.

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