Haryana Assembly passes anti-conversion bill: Rs 3 lakh fine, 10-year jail term on forced religion change

The legislation says there would be a provision for imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of not less than Rs 1 lakh if conversion is done by allurement, use of force, fraudulent means or coercion.

The Haryana Assembly on Tuesday passed a Bill against religious conversion through force, undue influence or allurement amid protests by the Congress and even a walkout from the House. The Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Bill, 2022 was tabled in the Vidhan Sabha on March 4.

Similar Bills in the recent past have been passed in the BJP-ruled state, including Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The legislation says there would be a provision for imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of not less than Rs 1 lakh if conversion is done by allurement, use of force, fraudulent means or coercion.

As per the Bill, whoever converts or attempts to convert a minor, a woman or a person belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than four years, which may extend to 10 years and liable to fine not less than Rs 3 lakh.

Several Congress MLAs termed the Bill “unconstitutional”, calling it the government’s attempt to “create a divide in the society on the basis of religion”. The Congress MLAs also asked the government to apprise the House as to how many such complaints or criminal cases were registered that formed the basis to bring such a Bill.

Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is the Leader of the Opposition, said already in the existing laws there is provision of punishment for forcible conversions and there was no need to bring a fresh law.

Meanwhile, Senior Congress leader Kiran Choudhary called the passing of the Bill as “a black chapter in Haryana’s history”.

Congress’ Raghuvir Singh Kadian said, “There is no emergency or urgency for bringing this Bill. I feel that this Bill smacks of divisive politics, which is not good”.