BHOPAL: Almost a month after Uttar Pradesh cleared an ordinance to curb 'Love Jihad' in the state, the BJP in Madhya Pradesh has now approved a bill on similar lines.
The Madhya Pradesh cabinet on Saturday approved the Religious Freedom Bill 2020, which provides for prison term of up to 10 years and fine of Rs 1 lakh for conversion through marriage or by any other fraudulent means.
Briefing about the Bill after the cabinet meeting, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said "the Bill has been approved after detailed discussions in the cabinet."
Giving details of the new bill, the home minister said that the bill once enforced, will be the most stringent law in the country against religious conversion carried out by fraudulent means, allurement or threat.
Co-accused in such crime will be dealt with as prime accused only. Also, religious gurus/clerics or religious institutions convicted for solemnzing or aiding religious conversion through such marriages too will be dealt sternly under the proposed law.
“All such marriages which have been solemnized with the intent of religious conversion will be declared null and void, but children born due to such fraudulent marital union will have right over the properties of both mother and father. Also, the woman victim and her children will have the right to maintenance.”
“Under the new MP Freedom of Religion Bill 2020, forced conversion of a minor, woman or a person from Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, would draw a minimum jail term of 2 to 10 years with a minimum penalty of Rs 50,000.”
“The probe under the new law will be initiated only if the complaint is made by the victim of such fraudulent marriage or the victim’s parents and kin. Further, such complaints will be probed by police officers who are not below the rank of police inspector in-charge (police station in-charge) or sub inspector. The trial in such cases will happen in district and sessions court of the concerned district.”
While maintaining that those accused under this will be booked for cognizable and non-bailable offences.
The home minister said "any marriage solemnized only for the purpose of converting a person will be considered null and void under the provisions of this proposed legislation."
The MP Freedom of Religion which will be introduced in Vidhan Sabha (whose three-day session starts from Monday) and is likely to sail through easily, as the ruling BJP now has a comfortable majority of 126 members in the present 229-member House.
Opposition Congress leader and advocate JP Dhanopiya questioned the need of having a new law in state, when one with the same name exists since 1968.
“Already an MP Dharma Swatantreya Adhiniyam 1968 exists in the state, it could have easily been amended rather than bringing a new law with the same name. Further, provisions to deal with such fraudulent practices already exist in the Indian Penal Code. If the state government was really focused on protecting women from such fraudulent practices, it should have enacted a new women protection centric law instead of replacing the 1968 Freedom of Religion Law with a new law of the same name,” Dhanopiya said.