The Uttarakhand Act is expected to bring further legislation on the amendment to the Freedom of Uttarakhand religion. The aim of the amendment, approved by the State Cabinet, is to prevent religious conversions by coercion, fraud or disproportionate influence.
The legislation of the amendment, approved by the State Cabinet on Wednesday, suggests maximum punishment of life imprisonment and a fine until £10 Lakh for forced conversion.
Currently, the maximum prison for a crime in the state is 10 years and the highest fine is £50,000.
This is the second legislation that will amend the law that has been valid in the state since 2018.
The first amendment was made in 2022.
The government led by Pushkar Singh Dham is preparing to present legislation during the monsoon meeting of the State Assembly, which is to be launched on August 19, reported the PTI press agency and quoted resources.
According to the legislation of freedom of religion of Uttarakhand, fraudulent or forced conversion would be a disgusting and incompetent crime. In such cases, the police will be allowed to arrest the perpetrator without order and the deposit will only be granted if the court (court for the session) is convinced that the accused is not guilty and does not repeat the crime.
“Other legal regulations on another amendment to make the law even stricter is caused by recent cases of conversions in a state aimed at demographic change,” says PTQUOTED AJENDRA AJAY, BJP leader and former chairman of the Badrinath-Kedarnath temple committee.
Ajay described the cabinet decision as historical and said: “The altered act with stricter provisions will function as a strong deterrent for potential perpetrators and will help maintain the original identity of the border state, such as Uttarakhand, which is also known as Devbhoomi.”
The bill also expands the definition of the initiative to include any gift, satisfaction, easy money or material advantage in cash or type, employment, free education, marriage, religious belief injuries or celebrating another religion and all of them as crimes.
It also makes crimes, such as promotion or converting through social media, messaging applications, or any online media.
(Tagstotranslate) Uttarakhand News (T) Uttarakhand Cabinet (T) Anti Conversion Law (T) Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion ACT (T) Religious Conversion (T)
