Jaipur, India - The Rajasthan cabinet has approved an anti-conversion bill that seeks to treat forceful religion conversion as an unbailable offence and could entail a two to five year jail term for those found guilty.
The Rajasthan Dharm Swatantrik Vidheyak (Religious Freedom Bill) is likely to be passed in the ongoing budget session of the assembly. It was cleared at a cabinet meeting Friday evening chaired by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Singh Rathode said the bill contains a provision of two to five years of imprisonment for those found guilty of forcing and encouraging others to convert.
He said the term 'forceful' in the bill also includes social boycott of the person, intimidating him in the name of god or any threat leading to personal losses.
Similarly, encouraging a person to convert by promising financial assistance or personal profit will also be considered an offence.
He said the decision to come out with an anti-conversion bill was taken after it was found that large-scale incidents of religion conversion were being carried out in the state.
Such conversions are a threat to the law and order situation, Rathore said. He said under the bill any person was entitled to register his or her complaint to the district magistrate.
He said such anti-conversion laws already exist in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
The All India Christian Council has strongly condemned the bill.
The proposed law would deny dalits and tribals their basic rights to choose their religion, the body said in a statement.
'The move is not just mischievous but downright unconstitutional. The right to follow or change one's faith can never be unlawful.
'Should the bill be passed, it will be the stick used to harass minorities in a state where they already feel insecure. It isn't hard to imagine what such a law in the hands of prejudiced government officials and law keepers can do to make lives of minorities unbearable', the statement said.
Genuine conversions have become controversial only because of the opposition of the 'saffron brigade' as they fear the emancipation of the marginalised people could affect their vote banks, the council alleged.