The Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday passed an amendment to the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act-2021, under which a person can be sent to jail for life. According to the previous law, a convict of marrying a woman falsely to change her religion could be given 10 years of imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna presented the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024, on Monday. He stated that the amendment proposes severe penalties for anyone who threatens, assaults, marries, promises marriage, conspires, or traffics a woman, minor, or any individual with the intent of conversion, categorizing such offenses as most serious. In these cases, offenders could face up to 20 years or life imprisonment.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav criticized the state government, accusing it of using communal politics to divert public attention. “What else do they have, they are not doing anything new,” he commented outside Parliament regarding the bill.Chandrashekhar, MP of Azad Samaj Party attacked the government for not being able to work upon the real issues and instead focusing on communal subjects.
Elaborating further, Minister Khanna said that the amended law has a provision for any person to lodge an FIR in cases of conversion. This is unlike the earlier version wherein the victim or their family member had to be present. Cases will now be tried only in sessions courts, and bail will not be considered without input from the public prosecutor. All crimes under the amended Act are non-bailable. A provision for fines to cover the victim's medical expenses and rehabilitation has also been introduced. The court can order the accused to pay compensation up to Rs 5 lakh in addition to any fines.
The amendment also stipulates that anyone receiving foreign or illegal funds for unlawful religious conversions faces rigorous imprisonment of 7 to 14 years and a fine of Rs 10 lakh. Khanna asserted there is no controversy surrounding the bill.
The proposal was turned down despite the demand from the SP and Congress to refer the amendment bill to the Select Committee. Strict punishment should be against forced conversions; sensitivity towards the voluntary ones, said the Congress Legislature Party leader, Aradhana Mishra Mona, adding that a commission to the effect should be formed and consider such cases.
The Leader of Opposition, Mata Prasad Pandey, therefore, cautioned against possibilities of false implication and suggested a clause for punishment to police officers for filing false FIRs; the minimum punishment being at least one year.
It was an initiative of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to counter 'love jihad', a term coined by some Hindu groups to describe what they see as forced conversions. An ordinance against forced conversion was brought out in November 2020 and later the law, Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act-2021, was enacted after the bill passed both houses of the Uttar Pradesh Legislature.
Read Also | UP Police & PAC to prioritise Agniveers, says CM Yogi Adityanath
