Rajasthan’s anti-conversion Bill includes life imprisonment, Rs 50 lakh fine: report
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Rajasthan assembly, representational Image
Jaipur: The Bhajan Lal Sharma administration of Rajasthan said that its proposed anti-conversion Bill would have more stringent provisions including life imprisonment and Rs 50 lakh fine in some cases, The Indian Express reported.
It is reported the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2025 would be brought in the Assembly during the Monsoon Session of the Assembly that begins Monday.
The state’s Law and Legal Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel told a press conference here that the bill was aimed at stopping religious conversion by inducement or fraud.
Though tabled in February, the bill did not come up for debate with now Patel saying that a fresh bill with ‘more stringent measures’ would be tabled. Currently there is no law against illegal conversion in Rajasthan.
Approved in the Cabinet meeting on Sunday, the definition of religious conversion does not include returning to one’s ‘original ancestral religion’, according to the report.
‘If someone returns to their mool (original) religion, which we call ghar wapsi, then these provisions will not be applicable to them,’ Patel reportedly said.
Where in the old bill punishment for unlawful conversion was one to five years of jail time and a minimum fine of Rs 15,000, the new one will hand a jail term of seven to 14 years, along with a minimum fine of Rs 5 lakh.
The punishment for unlawful conversion of a minor, a differently abled person, a woman or a person of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) would be 10-20 years with a minimum fine of Rs 10 lakh.
The punishment for this category previously was 2-10 years with a minimum fine of Rs 25,000 and there was no specific provision for the differently abled.
An unlawful mass conversion would lead to imprisonment from 20 years to life term and a minimum fine of Rs 25 lakh, where previously it was 3-10 years imprisonment with a minimum fine.
Calling Rajasthan a land of communal harmony, Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully said that the Bill was part of an attempt to ‘divert attention from inflation, unemployment, corruption, broken roads, and collapsing schools’.