Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Assembly on today tabled a stringent anti-conversion bill in the House on Tuesday.
The bill to be called Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2022, seeks to make unlawful conversion a cognisable and non-bailable offence punishable.
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The punishment may be imprisonment for a term of at least six months to a maximum of five years and also a fine amounting to Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000.
The draft said, “No person shall convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means. No person shall abet, convince or conspire such conversion.”
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State Minister for Religious Affairs, Satpal Maharaj speaking abut the bill said, “Under articles 25,26, 27 and 28 of the Constitution of India, under Right to Freedom of Religion, to equally strengthen the importance of every religion, an amendment in Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018, is necessary.”