The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in India’s Gujarat state has implemented an “anti-conversion” law passed in 2003, increasing fears among Christians that it will open the door to false accusations by Hindu extremists.
India’s Freedom of Religion Acts, referred to as anti-conversion laws, now have been implemented in five of India’s 28 states. The laws seek to curb religious conversions made by “force,” “fraud” or “allurement.” But Christians and human rights groups say that in reality the laws obstruct conversion generally, as Hindu nationalists invoke them to harass Christian workers with spurious arrests.
Individuals convicted of “forced” conversion could receive up to three years in jail according to rules of implementation framed on April 1 for the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act of 2003, The Times of India reported.
The newspaper’s April 26 report noted: “From now on, anyone wishing to convert will have to tell the government why they were doing it and for how long they had been following the religion which they were renouncing, failing which, they will be declared offenders and prosecuted under criminal laws.”
Dominic Emmanuel, spokesman for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, told Compass Direct News, “There is absolutely no truth in the allegation that Christians use unfair means to convert the poor and Dalits to Christianity.”
Besides numerous false complaints by Hindu nationalist groups against Christian workers under other states’ anti-conversion laws, the legislation has a negative social impact on Christians, Emmanuel said, “as people try to ostracize the Christian community whose only purpose to them seems to be to convert, thereby belittling all the social work the community does for the masses.” Christian workers are prevented “from reaching out to the needy, who too will continue to suffer,” Emmanuel said.
The legislation seems to leave many citizens with a false impression that conversion itself is illegal in the country, he added, noting that intolerant Hindus frequently accuse Christians merely of “conversion” rather than “forced” or “fraudulent” conversion.
The key purpose of anti-conversion rhetoric, which later gets translated into anti-conversion laws, is to “demonize the miniscule, peace-loving Christian community with an eye on consolidating the Hindu votes,” Emmanuel said. According to the 2001 census, there are only 284,092 Christians in Gujarat, which has a total population of more than 50 million.
The rules under the Gujarat law make it obligatory for clergy to obtain prior permission of the district magistrate in order to avoid police action when assisting in an individual’s conversion from one religion to another.
Clergy will be required to sign a detailed form providing information on those who are converting, such as whether they are minors, members of a “scheduled caste” (Dalit) or tribe (aboriginal), their marital status, occupation and monthly income. “Anyone willing to convert will have to apply to the district magistrate a month before the rituals involved in conversion and give details on the place of conversion, time and reason,” The Times of India reported.