The Haryana Cabinet on Tuesday passed the draft of The Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Bill, 2022, pointed toward forbidding religious conversions which are impacted through unlawful means by use of force, deceitful means, coercion, undue influence or under threat.
The Bill would now be presented before the Assembly.
Need for the bill
Many “Love Jihad” episodes have been seen in the state. Love Jihad is a term utilized in the country to address Muslim men driving Hindu girls to change over to Islam. These men do this by wedding them. As per a few Hindutva pioneers, it is a procedure utilized by the Muslim world to annihilate Hinduism. There are pseudo social associations that use this procedure to convert weak areas of the general public.
What does the bill say?
It plans to prohibit religious conversions through undue influence, deception, allurement, pressure or other fraudulent means. The bill consists of more prominent punishment for conversions for women, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe.
If any of the marriages were performed by hiding the religion, the marriage will be declared void or invalid under the bill. The assigned authority will make enquiries.
Justification
The Right to freedom of religion can’t be reached out to decipher collective right to convert. Since it has a place with the individual converting. Still there are mass conversions occurring in the country. Individuals who are converting are for the most part the weaker sections. Such individuals are offered allurement for conversion. In some places, the men wed the girls hiding their identity. They uncover that they follow Islam after getting married and then force their wives to get converted.
How will it be established?
The people converting one religion over to other have to present a declaration that the conversion isn’t being done under unlawful means. The term unlawful means by use of force, deceitful means, coercion, undue influence or under threat.
