No marriage to a Muslim could mean automatic conversion from Hinduism to Islam In a recent verdict related to a partition suit, the Delhi High Court ruled that merely marrying a Muslim man would not tantamount to converting from Hinduism to Islam The suit was filed by the eldest child of a man from his first marriage against her father and her two half brothers from his second marriage. The partition suit was filed in 2007. The father died in December 2008, while the suit was pending. The father opposed the suit and claimed that the eldest daughter had ceased to be a Hindu as she had married a Muslim of Pakistani origin in the United Kingdom and the suit was therefore not maintainable. The court found that the burden was on the defendants to prove that the eldest daughter had converted to Islam to marry. Thus the Court found that the defendants had not established their "conversion" claim. The court observed that there was no formal declaration renouncing Hinduism or undergoing conversion process. The eldest daughter said in her affidavit that she practiced Hinduism even after the civil marriage. There is no automatic conversion from Hinduism to Islam by virtue of marrying a Muslim, the court said. Marrying a post-1974 convert was not proof in itself of formal conversion.