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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

31/07/24 14:26 PM IST

Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021

In News
  • Four years ago, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly passed the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 (henceforth, the Act) which prohibits religious conversion through “unlawful” means.
Major Provisions
  • The Bill has been introduced with the stated aim of protecting certain groups of people, including minors, people with disabilities, women, and persons belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities.
  • Its statement of object and reasons says that existing penal provisions under the Act “are not sufficient to prevent and control religious conversion and mass conversion” of persons belonging to these groups.
  •  Section 4 allows “Any aggrieved person, his/her parents, brother, sister, or any other person who is related to him/her by blood, marriage or adoption” to file an FIR for unlawful conversion with the police.
  • The revised provision states that “any person” can file an FIR related to violation of the Act in the manner provided under the new law governing criminal procedure, the Bharatiya Nagarisk Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS).
  • Under Section 173 of the BNSS, which deals with the registration of an FIR, information regarding a crime can be given to the officer in charge of a police station “irrespective of the area where the offence is committed”.
  • This means that any individual can approach any police station to file an FIR for alleged crimes under the Act.
  • Section 3 of the Act punishes religious conversion through “misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means”, which also includes “conversion by solemnization of marriage or relationship in the nature of marriage” through the use of the listed illegal means.
  • Under the newly proposed Section 7, an accused cannot be released on bail unless two conditions have been met.
  • First, the public prosecutor (the advocate representing the state government prosecuting the crime) must be given the opportunity to oppose the bail application.
  • Second, the court must be satisfied that there are “reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such an offence and that no offence can be committed by him while on bail”.
  • The Bill also adds two new categories of offences.
  • First, if the accused has received money from “foreign or illegal institutions” in connection with unlawful conversion, they may be punished with 7-14 years imprisonment and a fine of at least Rs. 10,00,000.
  • Second, if the accused causes any person to “fear of his life or property, assaults or uses force, promises or instigates marriage, conspires or induced any minor, woman or person to traffics or otherwise sells them” shall be punished with a minimum 20 years imprisonment which can be extended to life imprisonment.
Source- Indian Express

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