To Stop Religious Conversion India Should Bring Law. Who said that? The issue of religious conversion is a big issue in India. At some point in time, you must have seen in the Newspaper that people of one religion are accusing another religion that the people of one religion have forced the people of another religion to convert from one religion to another. Or by giving some kind of greed, people are made to convert.
Some states are making laws about this issue. Recently a petition was filed by an advocate in the Delhi High Court to order the Centre to bring a law against the forceful religious conversion that is being done and demanded by the Petitioner To Stop Religious Conversion India Should Bring Law. So that these incidents of forced religious conversion can reduce.
You can see here, While disposing of this petition, what things did the Delhi High Court say? So let us see the opinion and decision of the Delhi High Court about To Stop Religious Conversion India Should Bring a Law.
Petitioner Contended
• A Petition was filed by Adv. Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeks directions to frame laws to prohibit religious conversions by intimidation or threat, by deceivingly luring a person through gifts and monetary benefits, or by using black magic and superstition.
• He said ” mass conversions of socially and economically underprivileged people, particularly those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are happening.
• Mr Upadhyay, in his plea, said that religious conversion by ” the carrot and the stick ” and ” by hook or crook ” are against Constitution and Must Stop.
• The Delhi High Court on Friday observed that a religious conversion unless forced is not prohibited as every person has the right guaranteed under the Constitution to choose or profess any religion.
HC Replied
• ” Why should we issue notice? We have to first be satisfied with the petition. This is a petition which can have severe ramifications either way. There is no basis, no documentation, not one instance given by you, “
• When Upadhyay submitted that he has data from social media, the court said, ” Social media is not data. We have instances of photographs being morphed. Some incident being shown that look this is something that has happened, it turns out that it has happened somewhere in some other country 20 years ago and it is shown happening yesterday or today “.
What is Forced COnversion:- Forced Conversion is the adoption of a different religion or the adoption of irreligion user duress.
Punjab- A Case Study
How Christianity is growing among Mazhabi Sikhs & Valmiki Hindus in Punjab’s villages- The Print ( 2021 Report )
• Christianity is growing in Punjab, mirroring what states like Tamil Nadu experienced in the 1980s and 1990s.
• Small churches are springing up on the rooftops of many villages in Gurdaspur.
• United Christian Front- a group that has committees in 8,000 of Punjab’s 12,000 villages.
• Kamal Bakshi state president of UCF, said there are 600-700 churches in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts that belong to four Christian denominations.
• He says 60-70 per cent of these have sprung up in the past five years.
Data also came in front of us that 95% of the Punjabis in Punjab have converted from Christian to Punjabi. Only 5% who are Punjabi are original Punjabi in Punjab. You can understand this even if you go to YouTube and watch the hymn. You will always see words like this in Punjabi Hymn, which I am telling you below.
● Yesu Mere Naal Naal Rehnda Hai – 20,727,369 views Oct 21 , 2018
● Hath Yeshu Nu Fada De 6,391,221 views Mar 21, 2020 ‘
● Har mushkil de wich , mera Yeeshu mere naal naal hai . Baap wangu karda fikar , te maa wangu rakhda khyaal hai ‘- 16,459,483 views – Feb 22,2019.
-Carry the Reflections of their Old Religion
• Some converts from Sikhism don’t discard their turbans
• enter churches after covering their heads, as is the practice in gurdwaras.
What is the Name? if You convert?
-Names are not changed.
-Names carry caste identity.
-Caste allows the advantage of reservation for Dalits, which is not available if they concert
-This is also the reason census figures do not reflect the actual Christian population in Punjab.
• In – a fact for this reason- Christian Bodies in Punjab are demanding a 2 per cent reservation in government jobs and the setting up of a state minorities commission.
This was the case study. Let us see the reason for such conversations-
1. Issues faced by the converts in their precious setup.
2. Promise of new life in the new set-up.
Issues Faced by the converts in their Current Set-up
-Even the Gurudwaras are built on Caste Lines.
-Economic Conditions are invariably connected with the Caste System.
-Caste Politics Further hances the problem.
-Caste System
-Indian Christians disproportionally Identify themselves with lower castes ( 74 % ), including 57 % with Scheduled Castes ( SC ) or Scheduled Tribes ( ST )
-Even in Punjab – Most of the Converts are Valmikis and Mazhabis.
Bakshi adds, ” They say we allure people with money, when all people look for in the Church is equality. It’s the limitations of other religions, like the propagation of untouchability, that they don’t want to address.
” Better Education opportunities for the children = Promise of New Life in New Set – up = Redemption from Caste Inequalities
The staff of St Francis Convent School, Fatehgarh Churian, inform ThePrint that the organisation spends Rs. 90 lakh per year on providing children with free or subsidised education. out of the school’s 3,500 pupils, 400 pay almost nothing. The staff say buses get lents to the school from five-six villages within a 20 – kilometre radius of Fatehgarh Churian free of cost.
Migration is also the reason for conversion
-People Moving in and Out of India
Punjabi Sikhs – Moving out to Countries like Canada, Australia, and England.
-People from Neighbouring Countries Moving into India- Bangladesh, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc.
Anti-conversion laws in India
• There is no central anti-conversion law.
• the Indian Conversion ( Regulation and Registration ) Bill was introduced . in 1954 in Parliament but it was never passed.
• The states that have enacted anti-conversion laws make religious conversion by force or allurement a punishable offence. “
Freedom of Religion laws ” are currently in force in eight states
( i ) Odisha,
( ii ) Madhya Pradesh,
( iii ) Arunachal Pradesh,
( iv ) Chhattisgarh,
( v ) Gujarat,
( vi ) Himachal Pradesh,
( vii ) Jharkhand and
( viii ) Uttarakhand.
But having an anti-conversion law is enough. Is it enough to have all this? And I think all that is not enough and in my opinion To Stop Religious Conversion India Should Bring Law. That’s why it remains a big issue even today. And that’s still a huge question, Whether To Stop Religious Conversion India Should Bring Law or not? that we probably don’t have the answer to yet.
