GUJARAT FREEDOM OF RELIGION (AMENDMENT) BILL 2021

About:

• The Bill was passed in the state assembly during the budget session held in March 2021.
  
  
• The Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill 2021 proposes punishment of 3-10 years in jail for forcible or fraudulent religious conversions through marriage.
  
  
• The bill amends the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003. The amendment aims to reduce the “emerging trend” where women are “lured to marriage” for the purposes of religious conversion.
  
  
• The 2003 act dealt with religious conversions through “force or by misrepresentation or by any other fraudulent means”. The amendment bill mentioned promises of a better lifestyle, impersonation, and ‘divine blessing’.
  
  
• The states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh also enacted similar “anti-love jihad” laws that banned “fraudulent” conversions through marriage.