"Uttarakhand cabinet approves draft bill to make "forced religious conversions a non-bailable offence"
Submitted by newsman on Tue, 13/03/2018 - 13:36Uttarakhand cabinet approves draft bill to make forced religious conversions a non-bailable offence
March 13, 2018
The Uttarakhand state cabinet has approved the draft bill called ‘Dharm Swatantrata Adhiniyam‘ under which forced and illegal conversions will be a non-bailable offence. The state government is aiming to curb the incidences of religious conversions by means of force, bribes or incentives and duping. Under this bill, a person, if caught with being involved in such practice will have to face a jail term from one year to five years. The minimum jail term will be two years if the victims belong to SC or ST category.According to reports, if a person wants to convert voluntarily, he/she will have to submit an affidavit with the respective District Magistrate one month prior, in order to clarify that the conversion is voluntary and not forced.