Now Conversion law violation is a criminal offence in Gujarat

GANDHINAGAR: From now on, anyone wishing to convert will have to tell the government why they were doing it and for how long they had been following the religion which they were renouncing, failing which, they will be declared offenders and prosecuted under criminal laws.

Forced conversion could land those responsible a three-year jail term. This clause is contained in the rules of the anti-conversion law which came into effect on April 1.

The new law is called Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, and took five years to be implemented because of the failure of the state government to come up with rules on the kind of information to be provided when applying for permission to convert to any religion.
The Bill confirms that Jainism and Buddhism are not sub-sects of Hinduism. The rules have been published in the Gujarat government gazette.

The rules make it obligatory for a priest seeking to convert someone from one religion to another to take prior permission of the district magistrate in order to avoid police action.

The priest, in fact, will have to sign a detailed form providing personal information on the person whom she/he wishes to convert, whether the one sought to be converted is a minor, a member of Scheduled Caste or Tribe, her/his marital status, occupation and monthly income.

Anyone willing to convert will have to apply to the district magistrate a month before the rituals and give details on the place of conversion, time and reason.

After getting converted, the person will have to obligatorily provide information within 10 days on the rites to the district magistrate, reason for conversion, the name of the priest who has carried out the ritual and full details of the persons who took part in the ceremony.

The district magistrate will have to send a quarterly report to the government listing the number of applications for prior permission, comparative statistics of the earlier quarter, reasons for granting or not granting permission, number of conversions, and number of actions against offenders.

From TOI

Welcome as religous conversion law is withdrawn in India

But a human rights group, while welcoming its removal, called for the original law to be repealed. The amendment redefined the word 'convert' and said that converting from one denomination to another was acceptable. However, it defined Jainism and Buddhism as denominations of Hinduism, a stance which attracted strong criticism from Jain groups. Despite the amendment being withdrawn the original 'Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003', remains on the statute books. The Act is a somewhat convoluted law which rules that anyone converting another person must get prior permission from the district magistrate. In addition, the law is extremely difficult to challenge, owing to a complex web of additional rules and legislation. Sam Paul, Secretary of Public Affairs at the All India Christian Council, said: "The status of this law is extremely confusing to ordinary citizens and police alike. Many people believe that they cannot change religion in Gujarat, even though the law has not been officially implemented. The Gujarat government must respect the religious freedom of its people and withdraw the original anti-conversion law, which was introduced to appease extremist Hindu nationalists in the state." In Britain the advocacy director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Tina Lambert, said: "Although we welcome this news, it is not enough that the amendment is withdrawn. As long as the original anti-conversion law exists on the statute books, it contributes towards creating a culture in which religious conversions are anathema, and a climate of fear exists among religious minorities. "We call for a full repeal of the Gujarat anti-conversion law, to ensure the full expression of religious freedom as defined by international standards and protected in the India constitution." Last month a Christian in Madhya Pradesh, India, was charged with forced conversion, according to a report by www.persecution.in. Vijay Burman was charged after a complaint against him claimed he was trying to lure converts with promises of good jobs. Locals who know him insist that Mr Burman, who converted to Christianity from Hinduism 14 years ago, was doing no such thing.

NCM to submit its report on anti-conversion law to Centre soon

New Delhi, Jan 14: The National Commission for Minorities(NCM) will soon present before the Centre a report on the anti-religious conversion laws passed by various states

It was few months ago that the Centre had asked the NCM to study all the legislations on religious conversions passed by Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to examine as to what extent they are infringing on the rights of minorities.

''Our effort is to submit the report before Parliament session begins in February,'' NCM member Harcharan Josh told UNI.

He said the Commission had deliberated over the matter and then referred the task to the International Law Institute.

Mr Josh said the Law Institute had been asked to give its opinion within 15 days, and they expected to receive the report within a week.

The issue of state legislations on religious conversions became controversial again when the Gujarat Assembly last year passed a Bill amending its anti-conversion law--the Freedom of Religion Act 2003--which says that Jainism and Buddhism shall be taken as denominations of Hinduism.

The NCM has already written to the Centre in this connection. It pointed out that the Clause 2(c) of NCM Act of 1992 empowers the Central Government to notify a minority for purposes of the Act, in the light of which the Union Ministry of Welfare notified on October 23, 1993 Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) as minority communities.

The Rajasthan law passed in April 2006, has, however, yet to receive the Governor's assent. The then Governor Pratibha Patil had referred the matter to the President with whom the Bill is lying since then.

Christian and civil rights organisations oppose the Bill, arguing that it seeks to restrict the right to freedom of religion and speech on the grounds of law and order, which is constitutionally impermissible

The proposed law not only tends to regulate conversions, but also to cripple the rights of the people, especially belonging to minority communities to propagate their faith, they say.

--- UNI