Karnataka Legislative Council passes anti conversion bill

Bengaluru, Sep 15: Karnataka Legislative Council on Thursday passed the contentious "anti conversion bill", amid objections from the opposition Congress and JD(S). The 'Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill' was passed by the Legislative Assembly in December last.

The Bill will guarantee the right to religious freedom and forbid the forcible conversion of people from one faith to another using deception, compulsion, undue influence, coercion, allurement, or any other fraudulent means.

The BJP government has tabled a bill that grants anyone the ability to report a religious conversion, defending the state's right to religious freedom.

A forcible religious conversion would be punishable by up to ten years in jail, with the offence being non-bailable and cognizable.

As the Bill was pending for passage in the Legislative Council, where the ruling BJP was short of majority then, the government had subsequently promulgated an ordinance in May this year to give effect to the bill. Home Minister Araga Jnanendra piloted the Bill for the consideration of the Upper House today.

Noting that in recent times religious conversions have become widespread, he said there have been mass conversions with allurements and through force, disturbing peace and leading to mistrust among people following different religions. The Bill does not take away anyone's religious freedom and anyone can practice the religion of his or her choice, but not under pressure and allurements, Jnanendra said.

The Minister had moved some amendments to substitute certain clauses in the Bill like- "It (legislation) shall be deemed to have come into force with effect from the 17th day of May 2022"; also that "....the ordinance is hereby repealed"- which has now been accepted with the passage of the bill.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council B K Hariprasad even tore the copy of the bill in protest as the pro-tem Chairman Raghunath Rao Malkapure was in the process of putting the bill to vote. Hariprasad termed the bill as "unconstitutional" and will affect the right to religion.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy maintained that the bill was well within the scope of the Constitution of India.

The Bill that has been vehemently opposed by some Christian community leaders, provides for protection of right to freedom of religion and prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means.