- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE much-debated anti-conversion bill in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, officially called Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021, was passed by the state’s legislative assembly on Thursday (23) amid much din.
The opposition Indian National Congress opposed the bill calling it “anti people”, “inhuman”, “anti-constitutional”, “anti-poor” and “draconian”. It said it the bill should not be passed for any reason and the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should withdraw it.
The Janata Dal (Secular), another major political player in the state, also opposed the bill.
The bill was passed by a voice vote even as members of the Congress protested from the well of the house, seeking continuation of debate on the contentious bill which started in the morning.
The BJP alleged that it was the previous government led by the Congress which had initiated the bill and also produced documents in the house to support its claim.
Siddaramaiah, who was the chief minister then and now the leader of opposition, denied the claims but according to Press Trust of India, accepted later while going through the records in the speaker’s office that as the chief minister, he had asked the draft bill to be placed before the cabinet. However, he said that since no decision was taken on the matter, it could not be said that his government had intended to pass such a bill.
When the former Congress chief minister alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu nationalist ideologue of the BJP, was behind the bill, incumbent chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said it is not a secret that the RSS is for anti-conversion. He then attacked the Congress asking why did its government initiate the bill in 2016.
“RSS is committed to anti conversion, it is not a hidden secret, it is an open secret. Why did the Congress government in 2016 initiate the bill during its tenure following the RSS’ policy? It is because Congress CM in Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh had brought a similar law. You are a party to this bill,” he said, adding that the bill is both constitutional and legal, and aimed at getting rid of the menace of religious conversion.
“It is for a healthy society…. Congress was indulging in vote bank politics by opposing it now, their double standard is clear today,” he said.
The Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 provides for protection of right to freedom of religion and prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means.
The bill also proposes an imprisonment from three to five years with a fine of Rs 25,000, while for violation of provisions with respect to minors, women, SC/ST, offenders will face imprisonment from three to ten years and a fine of not less than Rs 50,000. The bill also makes provisions for the accused to pay up to Rs five lakh as compensation to those who were made to convert, and with regards to cases of mass conversion the bill proposes 3-10 years jail term and a fine of up to Rs one lakh.
The offense under this bill is non-bailable and cognizable.
On Wednesday (22), hundreds of people from at least 40 socio-political organisations in the state took out a protest march in capital Bengaluru against the bill.
Bengaluru Archbishop Peter Machado, who attended the protest, told The Indian Express, “Now that the contents of the Bill have been read by all, it has been found that it is not only affecting the Christians. It is affecting the larger society. It is a question of privacy, the question of marriage, the question of women, Dalits and Muslims.”
“Karnataka is a progressive state in the country and has to give out a message to others that it is open to privacy, dignity and human rights,” he added.
On the provisions of the Bill, the Archbishop said, “Any help or concession provided by any of our Christian institutions working in the fields of education, health, senior citizen care and orphanages, to any member not from the Christian community, can be construed as an inducement for conversion as per the Bill.”
Rajendra, an activist and a part of the protest, told the daily, “It is an absolutely unconstitutional bill, it is against the fundamental rights of freedom and liberty. The bill is not only against Christians and other religious minorities, it is against each and every one of us.”
The bill provides an exemption in the case of a person who “reconverts to his immediate previous religion” as “the same shall not be deemed to be a conversion under this Act”.
