Strict anti-conversion bill passed in UP Assembly: What is it and how many states have implemented it?

Image Source : FILE/X A banner during the agitation against conversion

Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh is facing criticism by the Opposition for making a ‘strict’ anti-conversion law which is also known as ‘anti-love jihad law’. The Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill that seeks to amend the Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act to increase the maximum punishment to life imprisonment and fine of Rs 5 lakh for violators. 

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday targeted the BJP government over the bill, accusing it of trying to divert people’s attention through communal politics. “What else do they have, they are not doing anything new,” he said.

What is an anti-conversion bill? 

An anti-conversion bill seeks to prevent any person from converting or attempting to convert, either directly or otherwise, another person through “forcible” or “fraudulent” means, or by “allurement” or “inducement.” The provisions in the bill can be different in different states, but the essence of the law is the same to check unlawful conversions. The intention behind the anti-conversion laws is to curb ‘love jihad’, a term confined by the Hindu outfits for alleged forcible conversion before or after marriage.

What are the provisions in the UP’s anti-conversion bill?

• Under the amended provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2024, if a person threatens, attacks, marries or promises to marry or conspires for it, or traffics a woman, minor or anyone with the intention of conversion, then his crime will be placed in the most serious category. 
• The amended bill provides for 20-year imprisonment or life imprisonment in such cases. Earlier, a maximum punishment of 10 years and a fine of Rs 50,000 was provided under it. 
• Under the amended provision, now any person can register an FIR in conversion cases. Earlier, to give information or complaint in the case, the presence of the victim, parents, siblings was necessary, but now the scope has been increased. Now anyone can give information about it to the police in writing.
• It has been proposed that such cases will not be heard by any court below sessions court and along with this, the bail plea will not be considered without giving an opportunity to the public prosecutor. 
• All the crimes in this have been made non-bailable.

Here is a list of states that implemented the anti-conversion law

• Arunachal Pradesh
• Odisha
• Madhya Pradesh
• Chhattisgarh
• Gujarat
• Himachal Pradesh
• Jharkhand
• Uttarakhand
• Uttar Pradesh

(With PTI Inputs)

Also read: UP Assembly passes strict ‘love jihad’ bill, convict to face life imprisonment

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