Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Assembly on Thursday passed a Bill to amend the ‘Dharma Swatantrya’ (Freedom of Religion) Act, 2003 which aims to combat forceful religious conversions, better known as ‘Love Jihad’, on the concluding day of the Budget session.
Tabled by the ruling BJP, the amendment seeks to prohibit and punish religious conversion promising better lifestyle, divine blessings and impersonation on the pretext of marriage.
The Bill was tabled in the state Assembly by Legislative Affairs Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja.
The Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003 sought to deal with religious conversion through allurement, force or by misrepresentation or by any other fraudulent means. However, the state government felt that there were episodes of religious conversion promising better lifestyle, divine blessings and impersonation.
“The state government feels that there is an emerging trend where women are lured to marriage for the purpose of religious conversion,” cited the BJP government as the reason to bring in this amendment.
According to the provisions of the Bill, whoever is found to be carrying out such religious conversion by marriage, or getting a person married or by aiding a person to get married shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than three years and up to five years and will also be liable to pay a fine of Rs 2 lakh.
If the marriage is in respect of a minor, a woman or a person from SC or ST community, the punishment shall be of imprisonment of a minimum of four years to a maximum of seven years and fine of Rs 3 lakh.
