PATNA: The demand for a stricter anti-conversion law was raised on the concluding day of Bihar legislative assembly on Friday. The issue was raised by several members of the NDA during the calling attention motion.
Eighteen MLAs including Maithili Thakur, Mithilesh Tiwari, Janak Singh, Sanjay Kumar Singh, and Baidyanath Prasad called for a law similar to that in other states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Gujarat.
Speaker Prem Kumar assured the House that government would review anti-conversion laws of states that ban forced religious conversion and inter-faith marriage and “if required, would implement it in Bihar as well”. He said that government is concerned over the issue raised by members in the House. “Adequate steps will be taken to deal with the situation,” he said.
The legislators contended that several states have provisions for severe punishment, including imprisonment upto 20 years in such cases.
BJP MLA from Buxar Mithilesh Tiwari said that in Buxar district, over 1,000 Dalit families had converted. Tiwari said that the state should adopt a law similar to Uttar Pradesh.