Rajasthan Govt to enact more stringent law against religious conversion

• Provision of life imprisonment

• Any organisation involved with conversion will be banned if evidence is found

The Chief Minister of Rajasthan Bhajanlal Sharma

Jaipur – BJP-ruled Rajasthan government has taken a decision to enact more strict law against conversion. In a recent cabinet meeting, chaired by the chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, the Rajasthan prohibition of illegal conversion Bill 2025 has been approved. This Bill will be presented in the Assembly session beginning from 1st September. February 2025 law mandated maximum 10 years imprisonment, now it will be extended to life imprisonment.

Important provisions in the more strict anti-conversion Bill

1.    No fraudulent reason valid for conversion

No individual or organisation can convert anyone by means of cheating, allurement, force, misrepresentation or false marriage promise.

2.     What is the sentence for allurement or coercion to convert if proven ?

It will mean 7 to 14 years of imprisonment, with a fine of Rs 5 lakh. If someone wants to come back to his original faith, it will be considered voluntary, and this law will not be applicable to the one returning to his original faith. If marriage is a means to convert, the family court can declare such marriage as void.

3. Stringent sentence for group conversion

If somebody is proven guilty of this, he/she will be sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment, with a fine of Rs 25 lakh.

4.    If they are  funded by a foreign country for conversion, the sentence will be tougher.

If it is proven that the conversion is funded by foreign countries or illegal organisations, then, the crime will attract tougher sentence of 10 to maximum 20 years of imprisonment, with a fine of Rs 20 lakh.

5. If women are pushed into prostitution the sentence will be even tough

Threatening, forcefully marrying or promising to marry and then not marrying or pushing women into prostitution has harsh provision. This crime will mean 20 years to life imprisonment, with a fine of Rs, 30 lakh.

6.   The accused will have to prove his innocence

Special feature includes the accused person must bring evidence to prove his/her innocence.

The place of conversion will be bulldozed

Those organisations which are involved in illegal conversion, will have their registrations cancelled, meaning, they will be banned. The government aid to these organisations will be stopped. The building where conversion was done will be investigated and seized or razed with a bulldozer.

One more imporatant decision has been taken in this meeting. Accordingly, 312 city areas will have 2 lakh streetlight instead of 1 lakh. To replace the old streetlights with the new ones, the government has approved a budget of Rs 160 crore.

Editorial Perspectives

• It is expected that all the BJP-ruled States should enact such law and implement it strictly.

• Perhaps Rajasthan is the first State to enact a more strict law against conversion. However, it remains to be seen whether the law will be effective. Reason being, Rajasthan already has anti-conversion law , as well as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, yet love jihad and conversion cases are constantly coming to light. When the situation has reached extreme levels, if victims demand death penalty to the culprits can anyone blame them for being wrong or crossing limits ?