: The Allahabad High Court has ordered the Uttar Pradesh police and the father of two adult sisters to present them before the court on August 6. The case involves allegations that the women were illegally confined after they chose to convert to Islam and marry partners of their own choice.

The order was passed by Justice Sandeep Jain on July 30 while hearing a petition filed by Divya Bhatia (now Zoya Diya Bhatia), 20, and Anshu Bhatia (now Amina Anshu Bhatia), 35.

The sisters, through their counsel, informed the court that they voluntarily converted from Hinduism to Islam without any pressure, force, or inducement. They also said they had decided to marry according to their own wishes, which they argued is their constitutional right as adults.

According to the counsel for the women, their father, Anil Kumar Bhatia, filed a police complaint in Agra in May 2025 to stop them from making these choices. It is further alleged that, with the help of local police, they were being illegally confined because they acted against their father’s wishes.

The lawyer for the sisters argued that the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, does not apply in this case because there is no evidence that the conversions were carried out by force, fraud, coercion, or deception.

“Prima facie, from the averments made in the writ petition, it appears that both the corpus are major women who are legally competent to take independent decisions concerning their faith, marriage, residence, and future course of life. The pleadings further disclose that they have voluntarily renounced the Hindu religion, embraced Islam, and expressed their desire to solemnise marriage according to their own wishes,” court said.

It added that if the If the assertions made by the petitioners are ultimately found to be correct, then interference with such personal choices could amount to an infringement of their constitutionally protected rights to dignity, privacy, personal liberty and decisional autonomy.

“Their production before this Court, therefore, becomes imperative to enable the Court to interact with them directly and to satisfy itself regarding the voluntariness of their decisions and the legality of their present custody,” court said while directing for their production on next date of hearing, on August 6.

The court further ordered that if the women are not produced on the scheduled date, the concerned police officials must file personal affidavits explaining the reasons for non-compliance and detailing the steps taken to secure their production.