Ordinance on Unlawful Conversion: A factual take
The recent ordinance on unlawful conversion enacted by the Government of Uttar Pradesh has opened a pandora's box. Ever since the implementation of the law, I have been seeing debates about it on primetime shows on various news channels. A bunch of articles has been published on online platforms by various news networks debating as to "how secular is this law?" and whether it will affect inter-faith marriages and the special marriage act. The most common observation while reading these news articles was how these Hindu fanatics and the BJP was responsible for bringing this law into force and how it was violating the basic human right of a person to exercise their right to follow whichever religion they wanted to. I also came across many posts on various social media platforms where lies were being peddled and the youth was being brainwashed via posts and people were simply retweeting and sharing without even putting effort into reading the actual draft of the law and the history related to it. As a responsible citizen of this country, I cannot watch lies being spread without any actual basis so here is my attempt to clear the air a bit and I will try to explain what the law states and will dive into its history a little bit. My only intention of writing this blog is to make sure that we do not fall into the trap that news laundries want us to. I strongly believe that rather than listening to the politicians or reading misinformed articles from biased journalists, whose sole aim is to propagate lies, read the facts for yourself before making an utter fool of yourself.
The ordinance titled "Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 (Uttar Pradesh Vidhi Virudh Dharma Samparivartan Pratished Adhyadesh, 2020) was cleared by the state cabinet on 24th November 2020. Few concerns regarding the law are its impact on inter-faith marriages therefore, I have tried to read the complete draft and jotted down some of the key points from it.
What does the ordinance prohibit?
This ordinance is provided for the prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misinterpretation, force, under influence, coercion (the practice of persuading someone to do something by force or threat), allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage which means that no person shall convert or attempt to convert any person of one religion to another by falsely representing himself/herself and impersonating as some other person and luring another person by any means, or forcing someone with the help of psychological pressure or physical force or threatening with physical injury, nor shall any person abet, convince or conspire such conversion.
Who can lodge an FIR?
Any aggrieved person (victim), his/her parents, siblings or any other person related to him/her by blood, marriage or adoption may lodge an FIR of such conversions which is against the provision in one of the sections of this ordinance.
What is the prescribed punishment?
The prescribed punishment for violating it is imprisonment from 1 to 5 years and a fine up to Rs. 15,000. If the aggrieved person is a minor or a woman from Schedule Caste or Schedule Tribe, then imprisonment between 2 to 10 years shall be pronounced to the offender and will be liable up to Rs. 25,000 fine. If a person previously convicted, is found guilty for the second time, he/she will be punished with double the prescribed punishment.
Procedure for conversion
Prior notice shall be given at least 60 days in advance to the District Magistrate or the Additional District Magistrate specially authorized by the District Magistrate by one who wishes to convert from one religion to another by free consent without any force, coercion, undue influence, or allurement.
The religious convertor who will be performing the conversion ceremony should also give one month's advance notice to the District Magistrate or the Additional District Magistrate authorized by the District Magistrate. Thereafter, police will conduct an inquiry to make sure of the intent, purpose, and cause of the proposed conversion. A person undergoing conversion if found to violate shall be punished with imprisonment between 6 months to 3 years and a fine not below Rs. 10,000. A religious convertor found to be violating this, shall be punished between 1 to 5 years and fine not less than Rs. 25,000
Declaration post-conversion
A declaration post-conversion within 60 days of the date of conversion should be sent to the District Magistrate as prescribed. The converted individual should appear before the District Magistrate within 21 days from the date of sending of the declaration. Violation of this provision will render the conversion illegal and void.
My views
These were some of the key points in the ordinance. Nowhere in these, I find any provision which are trying to demean or suppress any particular religion. Nowhere did I find any word such as "Love Jihad" either. Having said that some aspects of the law needs to be elaborated since I am concerned about how efficiently the law will be implemented. And to those people who have an issue with this law, "A guilty conscience needs no accuser" meaning "Chor ki dadhi me tinka" if you know what I mean. And what to say about the hypocrisy of the people who have a problem will the term "Love Jihad" but gladly propagate the term "Saffron Terror" or "Lynchistan"
Please go through this link to read the original draft of the ordinance passed by the UP Government before assuming that the government is against a particular religion or targeting the minority and just for once stop playing the "Victim Card." This tactic is getting really very old and boring. If at all this law is anything, it is pro-secular (if that is a word). Pro tip: Kindly enlighten yourself with facts before bashing someone without any basis, else zip it up and stop displaying your stupidity!
It has become a trend nowadays to bash the government and spread "communal" hatred just because one doesn't like them and may belong to a different religion or faith. Everything nowadays has become communal and people with the least knowledge are the ones who bark and always walk on a different tangent. They consider social media platforms a sink where people can blurt out baseless arguments from their vacant peanut-sized brains. Before you start blabbering and making stuff up, lets us dive a little bit into the history of the Anti conversion law which has been into force in 7 out of 29 states in India namely Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand. Penalties for breaching the law range from monetary fines to imprisonments. Some of the laws are stiffer if women, minors, or members of Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes are converted forcibly. People who have difficulty digesting the fact the BJP ruling state has implemented the law hence, BJP is fascist, for your kind information, most of the states were not under the rule of BJP or any of its alliances when this rule was brought into force. In Himachal Pradesh, this law has been brought into effect in 2007, and according to the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, “[i]ts adoption is particularly ironic in view of the fact that the state government is led by the Congress Party, which has consistently sought to highlight its ‘secular’ credentials.” (The joke is on you!) Some of the ministers from the ruling party have voiced for nationwide anti-conversion law to criminalize religious conversions without the government's consent. However, the Ministry of Law and Justice advised against this move and stated that this is purely a state subject. Therefore, at the state level, Freedom of Religion acts have been enacted to regulate religious conversions carried out by fraud, force, or by other inducements discussed above.(Ref:https://www.loc.gov/law/help/anti-conversion-laws/india-anti-conversion-laws.pdf)
The Supreme court very beautifully stated a few points regarding this matter in Rev Stainislaus v. State of Madhya Pradesh and I quote "It has to be remembered that Article 25(1) guarantees “freedom of conscience” to every citizen, and not merely to the followers of one particular religion, and that, in turn, postulates that there is no fundamental right to convert another person to one’s own religion because if a person purposely undertakes the conversion of another person to his religion, as distinguished from his effort to transmit or spread the tenets of his religion, that would impinge on the “freedom of conscience” guaranteed to all the citizens of the country alike. . . . It has to be appreciated that the freedom of religion enshrined in the Article [25] is not guaranteed in respect of one religion only, but covers all religions alike, and it can be properly enjoyed by a person if he exercises his right in a manner commensurate with the like freedom of persons following the other religions. What is freedom for one, is freedom for the other, in equal measure, and there can therefore be no such thing as a fundamental right to convert any person to one’s own religion." This is one of the most beautifully structured statements I have come across in recent times. It clearly states that following any faith is a matter of free will, consent, and "Freedom of conscience" and there can be no such thing as the right to convert anyone to one's own religion without consent (Ref:https://www.loc.gov/law/help/anti-conversion-laws/india-anti-conversion-laws.pdf)
Therefore, to sum up the entire issue I would say that exercising my Freedom of Religion, practicing my beliefs has to be my free will. I have the right to propagate my religion as much as any other individual belonging to a different religion, but I cannot force someone to convert into my religion and nobody can force me to get converted into any other religion. I would also like to state that interfaith marriages are an affair between two individuals with their consent. There should not be any obligation on any one of them to renounce its religion and accept the other. I am very glad that forceful or deceitful conversion from one religion to another is now a criminal and non-bailable offense in one of the most populous states of our country. I could not expect a more pro-secular law!
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