Haryana govt’s anti-conversion Bill, its provisions and Opposition’s objections

• The government in Haryana has introduced the Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Bill, 2022 in the Vidhan Sabha
• The Opposition has opposed it strongly and called it unconstitutional

About the Bill

• It seeks to prohibit religious conversions which are effected through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage or for marriage
• It makes such conversion an offence

Procedure for wilful conversion under bill

• Every individual converting from one religion to another shall submit to the prescribed authority a declaration that the conversion affected was not through misrepresentation, use of force, under threat, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage or for marriage.
• The designated authority shall make an inquiry in all such cases.
• There will also be a provision for declaring such marriages null and void if found to have been solemnised by concealment of religion.

Government’s reasoning for enacting such a legislation

• According to Haryana’s CM , Laws are enacted to create a deterrent for people to stop them from doing something wrong.
• As several incidents of forced religious conversion by way of coercion and allurements have come to light.
• So a law is required to prevent such incidents from happening

Opposition’s objection to the Bill

• The opposition called the Bill “unconstitutional”
• It termed the bill as the government's attempt to “create a divide in the society on the basis of religion”.
• They have also asked the government to apprise the House about the number of registered complaints or criminal cases which form the basis to bring such a Bill.