India / Gujarat govt to present Religious Freedom Bill during ongoing Budget Session

Gandhinagar: After Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh set precedents to counter ‘love jihad’, now the state of Gujarat is set to introduce a Bill to punish those who forcefully convert Hindu girls on the pretext of marriage.

The Dharma Swatantrya (Religious Freedom) bill will be presented in the ongoing state budget session with certain amendments to combat ‘love jihad’, Gujarat Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja said on Monday.

“We will be presenting the Dharma Swatantrya (Religious Freedom) bill with amendment in this budget session in Vidhan Sabha. The bill prohibits and provides for punishment for conversion by misrepresentation, undue influence, coercion, marriage or any fraudulent means. The bill aims to control to menace of love jihad. It will punish all those who try to cheat Hindu girls by changing names,” Jadeja told reporters.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had last month said at a rally in Vadodara that the modalities for a law against ‘love jihad’ have been put in place.

“Preparations have been made for a stringent law against ‘love jihad’. We will bring a Bill on this issue in the upcoming Assembly session. The manner in which girls are being lured, will not go on for long,” the Chief Minister had said, according to news agency ANI.

The Uttar Pradesh Assembly had on February 24 passed the ‘Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Bill, 2021’, popularly known as the ‘love jihad’ law exactly three months after Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel promulgated the legislation.

In January, the Madhya Pradesh government too passed the Freedom of Religion Ordinance, 2020, and promulgated it into a law.

The month-long budget session in Gujarat began on Monday with Governor Acharya Devvrat’s address to the House. The session will continue till April 1.