Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:41326-DB Court No. - 47 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 4746 of 2025 Petitioner :- Ashish Gautam Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Chandra Jeet Yadav Counsel for Respondent :- Arvind Kumar Srivastava,G.A. Hon'ble Siddharth,J. Hon'ble Nalin Kumar Srivastava,J. 1. Vakalatnama has been filed by Sri Shiv Kumar Yadav, on behalf of respondent no.5, is taken on record. 2. The present writ petition has been preferred with the prayer to quash the impugned First Information Report dated 11.02.2025 registered as Case Crime No. 0046 of 2025, under sections- 137(2), 87 of B.N.S, Police Station- Ekdil, District - Etawah, and for a direction to the respondents not to arrest the petitioner in pursuance of impugned First Information Report. 3. There are allegations against the petitioner that he has abducted respondent no.5, who belongs to different faith. The petitioner has sought protection from the arrest on the ground that he intends to marry respondent no.5. They are living in live-in relationship. 4. Learned AGA has vehemently opposed the submissions and has submitted that petitioner and respondent no.5 belong to different faiths and they have not applied for conversion of their religion according to section 8 and 9 of the U.P. Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. Therefore, being relationship against the provisions of law, FIR cannot be quashed. 5. Learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. Section 3 of the aforesaid Act read as under:- "Prohibition of conversion from one religion to another religion by misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion, allurement- (1) No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means. No person shall abet, convince or conspire such conversion. Explanation- For the purposes of this sub-section conversion by solemnization of marriage or relationship in the nature of marriage on account of factors enumerated in this Sub-section shall be deemed inclined." 6. Earlier, the concept of live-in relationship was alien for society. Usually in live-in relationship, both the parties lived like a married couple but not actually married. The process of marriage is pious which creates legal rights of parties and their offspring, which are governed by the provisions of law, whereas, the consequences of live-in relationship are different. The U.P. Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 came into force on 27.11.2020. Admittedly, both the petitioners belong to different religions and they have not solemnized their marriage in accordance to law rather they are residing in live-in relationship. 7. Section 3(1) of Act, 2021 prohibits such live-in relationship which is in the nature of matrimonial bond. The punishment for contravention of provisions of aforesaid Section 3 has been provided under Section 5 of the Act, 2021, hence, such residing of petitioner and respondent no.5 in relationship like marriage cannot get approval by the Court of law. No specific occurrence or act has been mentioned in the petition prejudicial to their life and liberty. 8. In view of the above, the FIR in question cannot be quashed, unless petitioners solemnize their marriage in accordance with law. 9. Accordingly, the petition is finally disposed of with the observation that if the petitioner feel any threat to his life or any act which constitutes offence, he is at liberty to move the application under Section 171(1) or Section 173(4) or Section 175 (3) B.N.S.S. or file a complaint case under Section 223 B.N.S.S. Order Date :- 21.3.2025 Abhishek Digitally signed by :- ABHISHEK YADAV High Court of Judicature at Allahabad