New Delhi, Sep 16 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from several state governments on pleas seeking a stay on their anti-conversion laws.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran sought responses within four weeks from the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, and other states.

During the hearing, senior advocate Chander Uday Singh, appearing for the petitioner side, urged the apex court to take up the matter urgently, arguing that several state governments are amending anti-conversion laws to make them more stringent.

Singh pointed out that Uttar Pradesh has amended its law to enhance punishment for unlawful religious conversion and introduced 'twin conditions' similar to those under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) to make bail difficult. He pointed out that the amended law permits third parties to file complaints, leading to harassment of interfaith couples by vigilante mobs.

After hearing the submissions, the CJI Gavai-led Bench asked Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj to file the state governments' response on the applications seeking a stay on the amendment in the laws. It appointed advocates Srishti Agnihotri and Ruchira Goel as nodal counsel for the petitioners and respondents, respectively, to prepare the compilations of pleadings.

The apex court also de-tagged a plea filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyaya seeking a pan-India law against conversion through coercion and deceit. The matter will be heard after six weeks.

The Supreme Court had earlier asked parties challenging anti-conversion laws passed by several states to file a common petition for transferring the cases from the High Courts to it. The Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh governments have filed separate petitions challenging the interim orders of the respective high courts staying certain provisions of their law on conversion.

/IANS