By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi: Leading Muslim organizations have strongly condemned the Rajasthan BJP government’s decision to reintroduce the anti-conversion bill in the Assembly.
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has termed the bill as ‘usurper’ of religious freedom enshrined in the Constitution of India. The Jamiat said the bill ran contrary to the spirit of the Constitution. The organization asked whether it would be a crime if a person willingly embraced some other religion because he finds that religion nearer to his spiritual aspirations.
According to the bill, a person intending to convert will have to give a 30-day notice to District Magistrate. The DM will get the case enquired. But a person reverting back to his original religion will not require giving any such notice. In the new bill, the minimum punishment will be one-year simple imprisonment. The maximum punishment could be three years and a fine which could extend up to Rs.25,000.
Opposing the bill, member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board Qasim Rasool Ilyas said the bill was against the religious freedom and had been reintroduced for electoral purposes to win a particular community’s support.
Mujtaba Farooq, political affairs secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, said the bill violated human rights because the Constitution had granted religious freedom to every citizen. People can adopt any religion without any binding from the State.
The bill will be discussed in the Assembly on 20th March. The earlier version of the bill was passed by the same assembly in 2007 but the governor did not approve it. The governor sent the bill to the President of India. The bill has since been pending there.