Anti-conversion laws in India
On 29 December 2006, the government of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh passed the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill 2006. The government claimed it was intended to prevent religious conversions through “force” or “inducement”.
Once Himachal Pradesh signs the bill into law, it would be the sixth Indian state to adopt anti-conversion legislation, joining the ranks of Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat. A seventh state, Jharkhand is also expected to pass an anti-conversion law.
There is no doubt that conversions brought about by violence or other equally illegitimate means of coercion cannot be permitted. Indeed, such conversions violate the freedom of religious beliefs protected within both the international instruments and the Indian Constitution.
The definition of force
All the anti-conversion laws share a common definition of what constitutes “force” in forced conversions. As the Rajasthan Bill provides:
‘Force’ includes a show of force or a threat of injury any kind, including threat of divine displeasure or social ex-communication.
It is uncertain how this prohibition will work in practice. For example, if a religion teaches that non-adherents risk divine displeasure (as with Christianity, Islam, and Judaism), teaching this article of faith may constitute an act of force under the Act.
The definition of allurement
According to the Rajasthan Bill:
‘[a]llurement’ means offer of any temptation in the form of
1) any gift or gratification, either in cash or in kind;
2) grant of any material benefit, either monetary or otherwise
The Madhya Pradesh, Chattissgarh and Gujarat anti-conversion laws rely on an identical definition. The Orissa and Arunachal Pradesh laws are worded slightly differently:
The definition of fraud
The Rajasthan Bill and Gujarat Bill provide:
[f]raudulent’ means and includes misrepresentation or any other fraudulent contrivance.
The Acts in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Acts state:
[f]raud shall include misrepresentation or any other fraudulent contrivance’.
Anti-conversion laws and the Indian Constitution
Articles 25 to 30 of the Indian Constitution deal with religion. Article 25 is most relevant for present purposes. It is similar to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Article 25 reads in relevant part as follows:
25. Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.
(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.
(2) Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law—
(a) regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice;
(b) providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus.
The Supreme Court has commented on the scope of the protection of religious freedom within the Constitution as follows:
…while his (sic) religious beliefs are entirely his own and his freedom to hold those beliefs is absolute, he has not the right to act in any way he pleased (sic).
The Constitution protects the freedom of individuals to hold any religious beliefs. However, the freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief is not absolute. Nonetheless, this freedom can only be limited according to the provisions of the Constitution.