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PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Friday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file its reply in response to a PIL challenging the constitutional validity of a recently passed ordinance, the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Law, 2020, which deals with unlawful religious conversion just for the sake of marriage. The ordinance was promulgated on November 27, 2020.
However, the court refused the request of the petitioner’s counsel to stay the ordinance during the pendency of the petition and directed the additional advocate general Manish Goyal, representing the state government, to file the government's reply by January 24, 2021.
Hearing the PIL filed by a high court lawyer, Ajay Kumar, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Piyush Agrawal directed to list it as a fresh case on January 7, 2021, and said that on the next date the petition shall be heard finally at this stage.