By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Jaipur: Human rights groups and religious minorities have started pressing the government to withdraw the controversial anti-conversion bill passed by the state assembly recently.
Representatives of such groups and minorities met Rajasthan Governor Shailender Kumar Singh on 25th March and requested him not to give his assent to the controversial Rajasthan Religious Freedom Bill. The legislation, they said, was more stringent than the existing half a dozen Acts on the subject of religious conversions in the country. Oswald Lewis, Catholic Bishop of Jaipur, accompanied the delegation.
In a memorandum, the delegation reminded the governor that the earlier version of the bill was pending with the president of India. Passing another bill on the same subject was against the spirit of the Constitution and the powers vested with the president and governor, they pointed out. The delegation consisted of Father Raymond Coelho, chairperson of the Rajasthan Christian Fellowship, human rights advocate Ajay Jain, Nazimuddin, secretary, Jamaate-Islami-Hind, Sawai Singh of Rajasthan Samgra Sewa Sangh, Kavita Srivastava of PUCL and Vijay Goel, an activist on Dalit issues.
A Congress delegation, led by Rajasthan Congress president C.P. Joshi, also had a meeting with the governor to press their demand to reject the bill.