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Anti-Conversion bill of Haryana

~Preet

The Haryana Cabinet on 8th of February 2022, passed the draft Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Bill, 2022, which makes it illegal to convert religiously by deception, force, undue influence, compulsion, allurement, or any other fraudulent methods, or by marriage or for marriage.

According to an official release, the bill will now be presented to the Assembly. 

"The Constitution confers on each individual the basic right to profess, practise, and promote his religion," the draught Bill's aims and grounds declare. The individual right to freedom of conscience and religion, on the other hand, cannot be used to create a collective right to proselytize, because religious freedom belongs equally to the person converting and the person seeking to be converted. Despite this, numerous incidents of religious conversions, both mass and individual, have occurred. 

Of course, such occurrences have sparked heated debate, especially in a multi-religious country like ours. The presence of fictitious social groups with a covert purpose to convert vulnerable members of other faiths. There have been instances where naïve individuals have been persuaded to change their minds by allurement or improper influence. Some people have been compelled to convert to other faiths."

It was pointed out that in the recent past, several instances have come to light in which people marry persons of other religions with the goal of increasing the strength of their own religion by getting people from other religions converted, and then force such other people to convert to their own religion after they get married.

The Supreme Court recently took judicial notice of such cases. "Such instances not only infringe on the religious freedom of those who have been converted, but they also work against the secular fabric of our society, making conversion for the sole purpose of marriage undesirable." Such occurrences not only impinge on the religious freedom of those who have been converted, but also work against our society's secular fabric," it concluded.

In the case of minors, women, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes, the bill increases the penalties for such conversions. It further states that the accused bears the burden of evidence as to whether a conversion was not affected by deception, use of force, threats, undue influence, coercion, allurement, or any other fraudulent methods, or by marriage or for the goal of conversion.

Every person who converts from one religion to another must submit a declaration to the appropriate authority stating that the conversion was not effected through deception, threat, undue influence, coercion, allurement, or any other fraudulent means, or by marriage or for marriage, and that such authority will investigate such cases. It also allows for the nullification of marriages that were solemnized under the guise of religion.