Jharkhand government clears bill to ban forced religious conversions
The Jharkhand government headed by CM Raghubar Das in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday cleared the draft of a bill that will ban religious conversion through force or allurement. Violating the provisions of the Jharkhand Religious Independence Bill 2017 will lead to 3 years of imprisonment or fine up to Rs. 50,000 or both. The bill will be introduced during the Assembly's monsoon session.
Strict actions on forced conversions of minor girls, ST women
The anti-conversion bill seeks to take stringent action on forced conversions of minor girls and women of the scheduled tribe. A four-year jail term or a fine of Rs. 1 lakh, or both, would be meted out to anyone found indulging in such an act.
2011 Census figures led to the introduction of anti-conversion bill
The 2011 Census figures had a major impact on the Jharkhand government's decision to clear the anti-conversion bill. As per data released by the Centre, nearly 27% of the state's population is tribal, 4.3% Christian and 14.53% Muslim. The report read that Hindu population grew by 21%, the Christian population grew by 29.7% and Muslims by 28.4% in the last 10 years in Jharkhand.
The 6 states where anti-conversion law exists
The anti-conversion law already exists in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh. If the bill is passed, Jharkhand will become the seventh state to introduce an anti-conversion law.
Forcible conversion is unacceptable: BJP Jharkhand unit general secretary
Meanwhile, general secretary of BJP state unit, Deepak Prakash welcomed the proposed bill and said that forcible conversion was unacceptable. He added that innocent tribals and Dalits had been converted under the pretext of a job, education, and money. Prakash said the newly proposed bill would put a halt to such activities in the near future.
Church, JMM critique cabinet's decision, Muslim community welcomes it
The anti-conversion bill drew mixed reactions from people in the state with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the church criticizing the cabinet's decision while the Muslim community was all praise for it. Cardinal Telesphore P Toppo said the church didn't indulge in forceful conversions but JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said that BJP wanted to create a divide within the tribal community.
