Friday, March 29, 2024

Karnataka cabinet clears anti-conversion bill

Despite Opposition from religious minorities and Opposition parties, the Karnataka cabinet on Monday cleared the draconian anti-conversion bill.

The Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill 2021 is likely to be tabled before the State Assembly on Tuesday.

The draft bill proposes a maximum punishment of 10 years of jail for forcible conversion of persons from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe communities, minors and women, to another religion.

The new bill is similar to laws brought by the Bharatiya Janata Party in some other states, including in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

According to the new bill, those who want to convert need to inform the District Magistrate (DM) at least 60 days in advance. The “religious converter” shall give one month’s prior notice in ‘form-II of such conversion’ to the district magistrate or any other officer not below the rank of the additional district magistrate. The marriages done for the sole purpose of unlawful conversion or vice-versa will be declared void, as per the draft copy of ‘The Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill-2021’.

In the new bill, the burden of proof that the conversion is “valid and lawful” has been put on the ‘convertor’, and allows the family of an individual to report the conversion as unlawful. This takes away from the person’s right to choose whether they want to convert to another religion. In brief, the new proposed law can simply end up in painting any inter-faith marriage, where there is a subsequent conversion, as a criminal act.

According to law experts and rights groups, the new bill gives the government an increased say in an individual’s personal life — the District Magistrate and the police will get to decide whether a particular person’s choice to convert is ‘valid’ or not.

Karnataka Congress state chief D.K. Shivakumar last week said his party would oppose the proposed anti-conversion Bill, arguing that it was aimed at targeting the Christian community.

“In whatever form the Government introduces the Bill, we will oppose it,” D K Shivakumar said.

“The government is attempting to undermine the contributions of the Christian community in education and other fields by proposing this (anti-conversion) law,” said Shivakumar.

Karnataka has seen a rise in attacks against Christians in October and November after the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) proposed an anti-conversion law in the state.

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