UP anti-conversion ordinance to become law soon

Lucknow, Feb 10 The ordinance on 'forced' or 'fraudulent' religious conversions, which was promulgated by the Uttar Pradesh government in November last year, will be formally passed by the state Assembly in the upcoming Budget Session.

Though the opposition is preparing to vehemently oppose the passage of the Bill, the numbers in the state Assembly weigh heavily in favour of the ruling party which will not have any problem in getting the Bill through.

In an Assembly of 403 members, the BJP has 312 MLAs which is more than enough to see the Bill become the law.

The Budget Session begins on February 18 and will continue till March10.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been advocating the law to check such religious conversions for marriage and states like Haryana and Madhya Pradesh have also brought in similar laws to counter alleged attempts to convert the Hindu women to Islam in the guise of marriage, which the right wing forces refer to as 'love jihad'.

The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 provides for a jail term of up to 10 years for any violation.

All the offences under the ordinance shall be cognisable, non-bailable and triable by the court of sessions.

The ordinance states that no person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage, nor shall any person abet, convince or conspire such conversion.

If any person reconverts to their immediate previous religion, the same shall not be deemed to be a conversion under the ordinance.

Any aggrieved person, parents, brother, sister, or any relative may lodge an FIR over such a conversion.

Another ordinance that will become law in the Budget Session is the one on "UP Recovery of damage to public properties".

The state government had brought in an ordinance to this effect for recovery of losses due to damage to government and private properties during political processions.

( With inputs from IANS )