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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

14/04/24 07:31 AM IST

Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act

In News
  • The Gujarat government recently clarified that Buddhism and Hinduism must be considered as two separate religions for religious conversions in the state.
GFR act
  • The GFR Act “seeks to deal with religious conversion through allurement, force or by misrepresentation or by any other fraudulent means.”
  • Section 3 of the act criminalises an attempt to convert any person from one religion to another “by use of force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage or by getting a person married or by aiding a person to get married”.
  • Section 3A, inserted through an amendment in 2021, allows “any aggrieved person” or a person related to them to lodge an FIR for offences committed under the GFR Act.
  • Anyone who violates Section 3 can be punished with up to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 50,000.
  • If the victim is a woman, minor or a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, this punishment is increased to up to four years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
  • Section 5 provides that a person performing the conversion ceremony or who “takes part directly or indirectly in such ceremony” must receive prior permission from the District Magistrate, and the person who is converted must inform the District Magistrate following the ceremony.
  • Failing to do so will invite a punishment of up to one year or a fine of up to Rs 1,000.
  • The GFR Act was amended in 2021 to criminalise conversion through marriage under Section 3 and introduced the punishment for conversion through marriage (Section 4A), a law declaring marriages void if conversion takes place before or after said marriage (Section 4B), and a punishment for every person who is a part of an institution or organisation that participates in unlawful conversions (Section 4C).
  • The amendment also places the burden on the accused to prove that the conversion did not take place through unlawful means (Section 6A).
  • The 2006 amendment to the GFR Act – which was later withdrawn in 2008 after it did not receive assent from the Governor – would have inserted an explanation stating that for the purpose of the GFR Act “Jain and Buddhist shall be construed as denominations of Hindu religion”.
  • On the flip side, the April 2024 circular clarifies that “with reference to Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, Buddhism will have to be considered a separate religion”.
Source- Indian Express

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