Shimla, Nov 9: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij has stated that the state government is planning to make a new law against forced conversions. He also stated that a similar law is already in place in the state of Himachal Pradesh as the Anti Conversion Law and so the Haryana Government is seeking to make a similar law on the same line.

 

The recent murder in Faridabad’s Ballabhgarh has made the Haryana state government reconsider the principles of protection as well as limitations about Freedom of religion. In order to provide protection from the mentality which instigated the Ballabhgarh murder tracking down to 'Love Jihad', the Haryana Home Minister has made his statement about government's increasing attention to address the problem.

 

The Himachal Pradesh government had enacted the Anti-Conversion Law in 2007 after passing Freedom of Religion Bill, 2006. The law prohibits religious conversions driven by physical or mental enforcement and harrassment or fraud. The state government has also passed a new Freedom of Religion Bill in 2019 in order to repeal the 2006 bill. Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur has said that more stringent laws are required to deal with the problem of forced religious conversions.

 

 

Freedom of Religion Bill, 2019 states that a person needs to notify the district magistrate at least 1 month prior converting the religion. The magistrate will then conduct an inquiry to find out the reason for conversion. A person involved in forceful conversions can be jailed for a term of around 5 years. All the offences under this act will be non-bailable. Also, failure of prior information about conversion can lead to imprisonment of 2 years.