The government had to step with a law to enforce on people who were forcing Hindu girls into converting to Islam. As there were more and more such incidents became rampant in the recent past and that it was causing a security threat to girls, the Bhartiya Janata Party-led government had to bring on the Anti-Conversion Bill. At the state assembly the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh introduced a bill to prohibit conversion by way of marriage or any other means of fraud in order to replace ordinance.
The Bill supplemented the order in some cases with provisions for a 10-year jail sentence and a heavy fine on violators, which was cleansed by cabinet in December and promulgated in January.
The Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill was introduced by Home Minister Narottam Mishra in the house in 2021. It’s the first step (to enact new law). The bill is now being taken into account.
“The House has made it easier to incorporate it. It’s an estate now in the building. Members could present reforms, they could review them for further intervention, a senior official of the secretariat of the Assembly said.
The Madhya Pradesh Freedom Of Religion Ordinance, 2020 approved on 9 January, penalizing religious conversions by dishonest means, including those for the sake of marriage.
The Ordinance penalized religious conversions by wrongful speech, hypocrisy, threatening use of force, unequal control, intimidation, marriage or any forms of fraud.
Home Minister Mishra said last month that in one month’s time there were 23 cases that had been registered under the ordinance.
He said that the highest number of cases registered were 7 in Bhopal, followed by 5 in Indore, 4 in Jabalpur and Rewa, and 3 in Gwalior.