Bill that invited ire of Christian groups tabled in Assam Assembly

The Bill contains definitions of both ‘evil practices’  and ‘healing and healing practices.’ The first has been defined as “commission of any act of healing practices and magical healing, by any person, with a sinister motive to exploit common people.” The latter has been defined as “a traditional holistic approach to heal body, mind and spirit of human being with traditional medicine and art including any system, treatment, diagnosis, or practise for ascertainment, cure, relief, correction of any human diseases, ailment, deformity, injury or enhancement of a condition or appearance.”

The Bill proposed to ban practices under these definitions and their advertising as well. The Bill proposed a penalty of imprisonment of one to three years for violations, along with a fine of Rs. 50,000. For repeat offences, the proposed penalty is of up to five years, along with a fine of Rs. 1 lakh.

The Bill also authorises a police officer ranked sub-inspector and above to enter and inspect places within their jurisdiction where they might believe an offence under the Bill has been committed or “is likely to be committed”, and seize evidence or advertisements. It also proposes to authorise the government to appoint police officers as “vigilance officers.”

The Bill also includes an indemnity clause, stating that “no suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against any person for anything which is, in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.”

Last week, while announcing the Cabinet’s approval for the Bill, CM Sarma had stated that one of the aims of the Bill is to curb evangelism and “maintain religious status quo,” claiming that healing is “used to convert tribal people.” His statement had invited criticism from the Assam Christian Forum, which said the CM’s assertion that Christians are engaged in magical healing was “misguided and needless”. “Prayer is a universal practice across religions used to invoke divine healing,” the Forum had said.

The Bill’s ‘statement of object’ stated that the aim of the Bill is to “bring social awakening” and to “create healthy, science-based knowledge.” It states that it aims to “protect human health against the evil and sinister practices thriving on ignorance and to eradicate the non-scientific healing practices with ulterior motives for exploiting the innocent people and, thereby destroying the fibre of public health of the society.”