Haryana passes Bill against conversion, Cong walks out

Provision of imprisonment of one to five years; fine of not less than Rs 1 lakh

The state sports department had earlier also recommended 455 tentative sports nurseries to be opened in the state.(File)

Amid protests by the Congress and even a walkout, the Haryana Assembly on Tuesday passed the Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Bill, 2022. The government says the Bill is aimed at preventing religious conversions “through force, undue influence or allurement” while former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said such a law would lead to an increase in the domestic disputes in the cases of inter-religion marriages.

According to the Bill, the onus of proof lies with the accused. If conversion is done by allurement, use of force, fraudulent means of coercion, then there is a provision of imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of not less than Rs 1 lakh. Similar Bills in the recent past have been passed in BJP-ruled states including Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The Opposition Congress termed the proposed legislation as a political agenda adding the move would deepen the communal divide while Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that the Bill is aimed at instilling fear among those who commit crimes.

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The Bill, which was tabled in the Assembly on March 4, was taken up for consideration Tuesday. Congress MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian said that this Bill smacks of divisive politics adding that such a law is not in the interest of future generations. He also referred to the displacement of lakhs of people during the Partition while urging the government to refer the Bill to the Select Committee of Vidhan Sabha for its examination.

But Khattar said: “A person can change religion as per his own free will, but it will not be allowed to happen to anyone forcibly. Action will be taken against such people if they convert religion by deceit or by giving any kind of greed. The purpose of this Bill is to control forced religious conversion.”

On the other hand, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda insisted that there was no need to bring a fresh law adding there are already provisions in the law to deal with cases of forcible conversions, if any. While pointing out possible implications of the new law, Hooda said that it may increase dispute among the families where inter-religion marriages have taken place. “The inter-religion marriages take place between the persons from Hindu and Sikh families in the region. If a dispute takes place between the husband and wife after two years of marriage and a complaint is lodged against him (for forcible conversion of religion), then the man would be behind the bars.” Hooda also suggested that there should be a provision in which no such complaint is lodged after a month of marriage.

Congress’s Kiran Choudhry termed the proposed legislation as a “scary Bill” alleging that it would “deepen the communal divide”. “Marriage is a personal domain and this proposed law is invasion in the personal domain” said Choudhry alleging that the move is violative of article 25 of the Constitution and it would have ramifications in long term.

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