Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion bill 2022
Recently, the Haryana Cabinet has approved the Anti-Conversion Bill. This bill name is ‘Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion Bill, 2022’.
The objective of the ‘Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversions Bill, 2022’ is to prevent the conversion of a person in an illegal manner.
Provision has been made to prevent conversion by seduction, coercion, undue influence, coercion, inducement or any fraudulent means or marriage or conversion for the purpose of marriage.
Salient Features of the Bill:
- The onus will be on the accused to prove his innocence.
- It declares marriages performed by ‘hiding religion’ as ‘invalid’.
Why is the bill needed?
- There have been some cases where people have been converted by giving inducements or undue influence on them. There are also many such cases, where marriage has been done without revealing or hiding one’s real religion. After marriage, their spouse is forced to change religion.
- Such incidents violate the right of converts to freedom of religion. Along with this, they are also against the secular structure of our society.
- There is no central law to prevent conversion. Law and order is a state subject. Therefore laws have been made on this subject in many states including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
- In Reverend Stanislaus v State of Madhya Pradesh (1977), the Supreme Court upheld the anti-conversion laws of Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. The court had clarified that Article 25 does not include the right to convert.
Source – The Hindu
