Karnataka’s amended ‘anti-conversion bill’ passed in both Houses amid Opposition walkout

“The bill was passed by the assembly during the Belagavi session (in December), it was pending in the council, so an ordinance was promulgated, to replace the ordinance, this bill is being introduced with a minor amendment that the law will come into effect from May 17, 2022; the bill after getting passed with amendment in the council, has come back to the assembly. After the assent from the Governor, the law will come into effect from May 17, 2022, the date on which the ordinance was promulgated,” Jnanendra told the House.

This isn’t the first time that the BJP government has attempted to pass this controversial bill that minorities, especially Christians, have said is a tool to target them.

The bill was first tabled in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in December 2021. While the BJP ensured the passage of the bill in the Legislative Assembly with a voice vote amid vociferous protests by the Congress and the JD(S), the bill did not go through in the Upper House.

In May this year, the Karnataka Cabinet converted the bill into an ordinance to bring a law penalising alleged religious conversions. The bill was tabled in the Legislative Council on Thursday.

What does the anti-conversion bill state?

The bill states: “No person shall convert or attempt to convert either directly or otherwise any other person from one religion to another by use of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage, nor shall any person abet or conspire for conversions.”

However, if one wants to convert to any religion out of their own will, they are free to do so.

Lawmakers at the session. (Supplied)

Political experts have pointed out that the timing of the anti-conversion bill being passed in the Legislative Assembly amid chaos from the Opposition earlier this year, and then taking an ordinance route to clear it in the Legislative Council, was questionable.

“When there is a majority of Hindus — around 80 percent in the country — only a very meagre number of people would get converted to other religions or vice versa. The timing of the passage of this law — ahead of elections — shows the true colour of the BJP,” said Congress and JD(S) members.

Another argument that the Congress made was that with this law coming into effect, anyone could object to interfaith or interreligious marriages and register cases against the wedded couple, and this would give rise to a large number of vigilantes, who would rule the roost, spoiling the harmony of a secular state.

Under this law, forced religious conversions would be a non-bailable offence, attracting of imprisonment up to 10 years upon conviction.

Hindutva group members assault interfaith couple

The anti-conversion bill was passed barely a day after the Chikkamagaluru Police arrested four vigilantes affiliated with the Bajrang Dal for assaulting and moral-policing a couple on Wednesday.

A 27-year-old man from the Muslim community was about to get married to a 19-year-old Hindu girl with the consent of her parents.

The accused have been identified as Shyam, Shashank, Guru, and Vikram alias Vicky. All of them are residents of Chikkamagaluru town.

The prime accused, Shyam, claimed to be the district president of the pro-Hindutva outfit, according to the police.

The incident happened at the local sub-registrar’s office around noon, when the man — a worker at a timber yard in Lakshmipura, a village around 15-20 km from Chikkamagaluru — came along with his fiancée, a coffee-estate worker, to marry her. They were accompanied by witnesses.

The soon-to-be bride’s mother was also present at the sub-registrar office when four men barged in and started questioning the prospective groom’s intentions.

“The four men started shoving and pushing him, stating that he could not marry a Hindu girl just like that. They also slapped him while abusing him in filthy language,” the police said.

The quartet then spoke with the officials at the office and took the girl to a women’s police station in Chikkamagaluru.

Meanwhile, the man was whisked away to the Chikkamagaluru Rural Police Station, where the four men were planning to file a complaint against him, but what awaited them was a different story.

Tables turned

Soon after the case reached the Chikamagalur Rural Police Station, a detailed inquiry was conducted by the Superintendent of Police, Uma Prashant, personally. She was on her rounds close by, and immediately attended to it.

As both the bride and the groom were being restrained and taken away by the vigilantes, the girl’s mother pleaded with them and the cops that the marriage was happening with both her and her daughter’s consent.

The SP, in her inquiry, learnt that they were consenting adults getting married, with her family’s permission.

However, the man’s parents disapproved of the marriage and chose not to come either for the court wedding or for the police inquiry.

Prashant also allowed lawyers and religious leaders from both the groom and bride’s side explain the situation and the couple’s future course of action.

“It was a clear case of moral-policing and assault, and based on the facts of the incident at the sub-registrar office, inquiries were conducted impartially. The four men were found culpable of moral-policing and assault,” the SP told South First.

Though they fled the spot as the tables were turned on them, they were later identified and brought to the station by the police, who booked them under Sections 323 (assault), 341 (wrongful restraint), 504 (intentional insult provoking breach of peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

Since these charges are bailable in nature, the arrested were released on bail after they gave sureties, bonds, and other legal formalities.

“As the girl did not want to go home after she had decided to get married, and so much ruckus happened on her wedding day, she chose to go to the state-run district girls’ home — named Swadhar — in Chikkamagaluru, having been referred by the police there. She is awaiting completion of legal formalities so that she can marry the man of her choice,” Prashant told South First.

Sources from the SP’s office said that there was no pressure from anyone or any influence when the cops booked the four men for their offences.

“Since all the sections booked in the case were bailable, we followed all Supreme Court guidelines and released them on bail. All four accused will be charge-sheeted for their offences, and will have to fight it out at the court,” said the top cop.