LAW COLLEGE DEHRADUN

FACULTY OF UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY

LAW COLLEGE DEHRADUN

FACULTY OF UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY

4TH NATIONAL MOOT COURT

COMPETITION
2019

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Organised by:
Moot Court Society
Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University
 MOOT PROPOSITION

1. The Republic of Indistan is an independent “Union of States” which got its

independence from British Rule in 1947. The Constitution of Indistan establishes
Indistan as a “Union of States” and guarantees several fundamental rights, broadly
corresponding to those recognized in International Human Rights instruments. It
guarantees direct access to the Supreme Court for the enforcement of those rights.

2. The Republic of Indistan is a multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and

secular country which exhibits to the world the principle of “Unity in Diversity”.
The major religion in Indistan is ‘Hinduism’ followed by ‘Islam’ besides other
minorities belonging to Christianity, Judaism, Jainism, Buddhism etc. The
Constitutional, legal and policy framework of Republic of Indistan are in pari
material to the Republic of India.

3. Rachel David was born as a Jew in an orthodox Jewish family in the City of
Delaware in the State of New Jersey of U.S. She got modern education and was
leading a life according to the Jewish religion, culture and tradition. She was a
staunch follower of Judaism and a strong supporter of the Jewish movement for a
separate homeland of Jews in the Middle East. Not only this, Rachel and her parents,
like many other American Jews, have always been ready to help in any Jewish
cause, whether monetary or in kind. They strongly support the occupation of
Palestinian territories by Israel and Jewish settlement in these territories. This move
of the American Jews had been protested by the Muslim Community as an
international conspiracy crafted by the Western World to conquer the Muslim
States. An international organization viz. “Tauhid-The Spiritual Life” filed a
petition before the US Federal Government to ban such Jewish American citizens
from supporting the Jewish Movement of Separate Homeland because they are
supporting the “Zionist Movement” of Israel. Responding to this petition, the US
Federal Government according to the secular values of the US Constitution banned
American Citizens from supporting any religious or regional movement outside the
US territories in whatsoever manner.

4. Family of Rachel has had a history of crime and criminal activities in entire
America, from which Rachel herself was not free. Rachel was once convicted by
 the Californian court for the offence of smuggling. Moreover, Rachel was a habitual
drug addict since adolescence, and despite several efforts on the part of her parents
for rehabilitation, she could not come out from this curse.

5. When she was pursuing a Management course at a Management College in

Delaware city of New Jersey, she came in contact with an Indistan boy named
Rathin Raj Sharma who was also pursuing the same course from the same college.
Soon, both of them became friends. Rathin was a boy of pleasing nature & a smart
personality who was known among his friends as a devoted and dedicated student.
He was also well versed in Yoga and other techniques of meditation, and was often,
seen teaching Yoga to his friends and others. He himself was famous as a person of
character in his college.

6. In America, Rathin in the company of his friends started consuming alcohol

occasionally, and, wherever he got drunk, he lost his self-control and started abusing
his friends and other persons present in the vicinity. However, he remained prudent,
calm and composed when he was not under the influence of alcohol. But Rachel
was not aware of this habit of Rathin and in her mind the image of Rathin was of
an honest and decent man.

7. Rathin and Rachel became intimate friends in the course of time and Rathin, with
the intention of curing her in order to assist her in getting rid of her habit of taking
narcotic drugs, taught her Yoga and meditation. He also taught her how to control
her emotions and senses. The effect of his teaching on Rachel was tremendous and
under the effective care and guidance of Rathin, soon she learnt how to control her
desires and senses. Consequently, she got rid of her habit of taking narcotic drugs
and started living a normal life.

8. Now the image of Rathin, in the eyes of Rachel as her mentor and friend became
gloriously magnified and she fell in love with Rathin. Similarly, Rathin also got
attracted to Rachel and, they both decided to marry. Moreover, they both started
living together under the same roof in the city of Delaware, when Rachel left her
parental home due to some differences with her parents. It is in this period Rachel
started taking a keen interest in Hinduism and got more and more knowledge about
 Hinduism. She got so highly influenced by this religion that she decided that she
would convert to the Hindu religion.

9. Once, in a night party along with his friends in a club, Rathin drank too much and
in the state of intoxication, committed rape upon a girl in the club. On report to the
police, he was arrested and prosecution was initiated against Rathin by the State of
New Jersey for the offence of committing rape. But the trial court in the Delaware
city had acquitted Rathin as the girl on whom the rape was committed was herself
of bad character and evidence was provided showing that she had herself provoked
Rathin to commit sexual intercourse with her.

10. Rachel, on coming to know about this crime by Rathin, was shocked nevertheless
she continuously supported Rathin in every possible manner when the prosecution
against Rathin was going on in the trial court. On acquittal, Rathin apologized for
his conduct and promised her never to repeat it.

11. Rathin’s family is an orthodox Hindu family living in Indistan that would not permit
any of their family members to do anything against the tenets of Hinduism. When
the parents of Rathin came to know about their son’s relationship with an American
Jewish girl, they vehemently opposed it and persuaded their son not to marry any
girl outside his own religion. But when they found that their son was adamant on
marrying with Rachel, they unwillingly consented for this marriage with the
condition that Rachel shall accept Hinduism as her religion and shall obey the Hindu
traditions and culture throughout her life and relinquish the Jewish religion.

12. Rachel, meanwhile, was herself having an inclination towards Hindu religion, and
was herself willing to adopt Hinduism as her own religion because in her opinion
Hinduism is a religion of peace and affection through which one can attain solace.
She learned a lot about this religion herself by now, and in order to marry Rathin,
voluntarily decided to convert to Hinduism. Not only this she also voluntarily gave
a written undertaking to the parents of Rathin that she would follow the Hindu
religion till the end of her life and never retreat to Judaism. She did so and both,
Rathin and Rachel married in accordance with the provisions of the Hindu Marriage
Act, 1955 in Indistan. Later on, they got their marriage registered before the
registrar in the Delaware city of the U.S.
13. On completion of his study, Rathin decided to start his own business in Stockholm
a city of Sweden and moved to Stockholm along with Rachel. Rachel also got
employment in Stockholm, and she left the U.S. and also relinquished her U.S.
citizenship when she became a Swedish citizen. However, Rathin remained an
Indistan citizen.

14. Unfortunately, the business of Rathin did not succeed in Stockholm and he incurred
heavy losses. He decided that he would start his business in Indistan, and despite
the unwillingness of Rachel, who was doing well in her job in Stockholm, the couple
moved to Indistan. Consenting to his wishes, Rachel decided to apply for Indistan
citizenship in order to live in Indistan forever, and did so. She communicated to the
Swedish government her intention to surrender her Swedish citizenship was for the
purpose of becoming an Indistan citizen. Swedish government accepted her
application and released her Swedish citizenship.

15. Parents of Rachel were not happy with the decision of Rachel to convert into Hindu
religion and they were convincing her to retreat to Judaism but in vain. Before his
death, her father made a will in which he declared that after his death his property,
which is almost 17 million dollars, shall be divided equally between his son and
daughter, i.e. David and Rachel, only on the condition that Rachel reconverted to
Judaism. If she would not do so, then all the property shall go in favour of his son,
David.

16. On return to Indistan, the couple were leading a happy and peaceful life, when one
day in intimate moments with Rachel, Rathin disclosed to her that in the early period
of their marriage he had an affair with a married lady named Maria with whom he
developed an adulterous relationship, and now Maria has filed a complaint in the
criminal court against him for the offence of rape. Thus, he is facing a criminal trial.
Rachel was shocked with this disclosure and her trust on Rathin was shattered
completely. In any case, she decided to remain calm.

17. Rachel’s brother David is a corrupt man and strong believer of Judaism, who by all
means desires that Rachel should retreat to Judaism. He made several attempts to
convince Rachel that the Jewish religion is a religion of God and better than any
other religion, so in order to get solace, she must return to Judaism.
18. Meanwhile, Indistan Authorities while disposing her application for getting Indistan
citizenship rejected her prayer for granting her Indistan citizenship keeping in view
her past criminal record. When the prosecution on behalf of Maria started against
Rathin on the charge of rape, Rachel initially supported her husband and had
forgiven him. However, with the passing of time, due to distrust on her husband,
her faith in Hinduism weakened and she decided to relinquish the Hindu religion in
order to reconvert into Judaism. She even went to the synagogue, and while
exercising the fundamental right of freedom of religion enshrined in Article, 25 (1)
of the Indistan constitution, declared before the Rabbi that she has relinquished the
Hindu religion and now reconverted to Judaism. She further declared that now
onwards, she would lead a secluded life devoted to the Jewish religion and
renounced the worldly life.

19. After that, she applied in the family court for the decree of divorce under Section
13 (1) on the grounds that (i) her husband on an earlier occasion had an adulterous
relationship with a lady (ii) she herself is no longer a Hindu and (iii) she has
renounced the world and therefore, this marriage cannot be sustained and she prayed
for the decree of Divorce. She also expressed her desire to settle in Israel as she at
this time is a stateless person and according to the laws of Israel she could apply for
the citizenship of Israel.

20. Rathin, in his written statement, denied all the charges and claimed the defense of
privileged communication as against the ground of adultery for divorce. He also
filed a counterclaim for the decree of restitution of conjugal rights against Rachel.

21. When the criminal case against Rathin was pending, Supreme Court of Indistan in
a landmark judgment, in the case of Joseph Shine v. Union of Indistan AIR 2018
SC, declared that adultery is no longer an offence. Rathin, on the basis of this
judgment, filed a petition in the High Court for quashing the criminal case against
him. He also filed a petition for quashing the divorce petition filed against him by
his wife Rachel on the same ground as adultery is no longer an offence.

22. Family court, however without deciding the Counter Claim, passed the decree of
divorce in favour of Rachel respecting her desire to follow the Jewish religion and
to settle in Israel for the rest of her life. Rathin vigorously opposed this and produces
 the written undertaking given by Rachel at the time of marriage in which she
declared that she would lead her life as a Hindu. He filed an appeal before the Delhi
High Court on the ground that Family Court without properly appraising the
evidence offered by him decided the matter and granted the decree of divorce to
Rachel. One NGO, named as “Rakshakdayini” which works for the unity of the
Indistan families filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Indistan Constitution
before the Supreme Court of Indistan for quashing the decree of divorce and to
declare in the public interest that no spouse should be allowed to withdraw from
marriage on the ground of conversion into another religion or to support any
religious or regional movement.

23. This matter came into limelight and became a topic for debate across various circles
in Indistan on whether a lady should be allowed to get divorce against her husband
on the basis of her reconversion into Judaism and desire to settle in Israel, where
the lady, on an earlier occasion was herself determined to live in Indistan as a Hindu.
Questions were also raised about the validly of the Hindu Marriage where one
spouse conclusively converted into any other religion other than Hindu religion.

24. When the intention of Rachel to migrate to Israel and to support the Jewish State
came to the knowledge of the Islamic International Organization “Tauhid-The
Spiritual Life”, they filed a petition before the Delhi High Court under Article
226(1) of the Indistan Constitution for preventing Rachel from leaving Indistan for
the purpose of joining the State of Israel. But the Delhi High Court has rejected this
petition on the ground that this issue involves multi-dimensional international
problems which a domestic court is incompetent to settle. Under Article 136 (1) of
Indistan Constitution, “Tauhid-The Spiritual Life” filed an appeal against this
decision of Delhi High Court that the matter is of “grave public concern”.

25. The Supreme Court of Indistan, on a prima facie basis, clubbed both the petitions
viz. the petition filed by “Tauhid-The Spiritual Life” and that of
“Rakshakdayini”. It also withdrew the appeal of Rathin from Delhi High Court in
itself and clubbed the petitions as the matter in them is interconnected.
 THE MAIN ISSUES BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT ARE:

1. Whether the petitions are maintainable?

2. Whether a Hindu marriage can be dissolved by the requesting party on the ground of
his/her conversion to another religion or renunciation of the world by entering any
religious order, and it’s bearing on the right to religion?
3. Whether a stateless person has the protection of fundamental rights under the Indistan
Constitution, if so, what is the scope of such protection and what role has a marriage to
play in determining the citizenship of such stateless person.
4. Whether constitutional principles and human rights prevail over disputes of
international nature arising from personal laws, and scope of jurisdiction of domestic
courts thereof.

THE TEAMS MUST FRAME AT-LEAST ONE OR AT-MOST TWO ADDITIONAL

ISSUE(S).

*****
 Moot Court Society
Law College Dehradun, Faculty of Uttaranchal University
Dehradun – 248007, Uttarakhand

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