MAJOR! Uttarakhand governor approves 'anti-conversion' Bill
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Dehradun, Dec 24: Uttarakhand Governor Lt. Gen (Retd) Gurmit Singh on Friday approved the Anti-Conversion Amendment Bill passed by the state Legislative Assembly in November this year, said Mahesh Chand Koshiwa, the additional secretary of the state Law department.
The Bill, titled, Religion Freedom (Amendment) Bill 2022, regarding the conversion law was introduced by Minister Satpal Maharaj in the Assembly on November 29 to tighten the law against religious conversions in the state. It was during the Winter session.
The state government intends to implement the law at the earliest."The government had decided to enact a strict law against religious conversion in the state," Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami had said after the Bill was passed through a voice vote.
Making religious conversion against the law a cognizable and non-bailable offence in the bill, there is a provision of imprisonment from a minimum of three years to a maximum of 10 years for the offender. In this bill, a provision has also been made for a fine of at least Rs 50,000.
After the amendment, the perpetrator of the crime may also have to pay a compensation amount of at least Rs 5 lakhs, which will be given to the victim.
he draft of the bill states, "No person shall, directly or otherwise, convert any other person from one religion to another by means of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, inducement or any fraud. No person shall promote or conspire for such conversion." Since the implementation of this law, so far only five cases of conversion have been registered in the state and the police are investigating these cases.
In fact, the presence of non-Hindus is increasing rapidly in the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand. Most of this number is in Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Dehradun districts. In this, three cases have been registered in Haridwar and two in Dehradun.
Bharati Web
Mes, Pune
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