News Analysis India

Tag: Madhya Pradesh anti-conversion law

  • 23 cases filed under Madhya Pradesh’s new anti-conversion law in January

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: As many as 23 cases were registered under an anti-conversion law in Madhya Pradesh within a month of it coming into force, Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Thursday.

    Early last month, the BJP government promulgated the Freedom of Religion Ordinance, 2020, which penalises religious conversions by misrepresentation, allurement, use of threat of force, undue influence, coercion, marriage or by any other fraudulent means.

    The law provides for up to 10 years in jail in some cases and hefty fine for violators.

    “Twenty three cases have been registered under the MP Freedom of Religion Ordinance in the state in January (the month it came into force),” Mishra told reporters here.

    He said the highest number of seven cases was reported in the Bhopal division followed by five in Indore, four each in Jabalpur and Rewa, and three in the Gwalior division.

    Mishra said religious conversion through fraudulent means is a serious issue and the practice needs to be stopped.

    “Since the beginning, we have been saying it is a serious issue and happening on a large scale in the state and across the country for which I am not authorised (to speak).

    “Such people and forces were active and they needed to be checked. And to this end, the state set the ball rolling (by enacting the law) and this is the figure (23) that has come forth in a month in MP, the minister said, justifying the controversial law.

  • Uncle-nephew duo booked under Madhya Pradesh’s anti-conversion law, one nabbed in UP

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: Two men from Uttar Pradesh have been booked under Madhya Pradesh’s anti-conversion law in Mandsaur district.

    Irfan alias Chote Khan and his nephew Sahil Hasan, both residents of Fina Colony in UP’s Bijnore district, reportedly posed with Hindu names to lure two teenage Dalit girls from Mandsaur’s Suvasara area. 

    The uncle-nephew allegedly used fake names Akash and Vikas to lure them on the pretext of marriage, called them to Bijnore and raped them in captivity. 

    Speaking to The New Indian Express, Mandsaur’s Suvasra police station in-charge Rakesh Chaudhary said that the entire conversation between the four people started with one of the two men dialling a wrong number that belonged to one of the two girls. “The two men subsequently became friends with the teenage girls aged 15 and 16 and lured them into a marriage trap. While one of the girls is a school dropout, the other one is a student of Class IX,” he said. 

    The duo was able to influence the two girls, who were neighbours, to come down to Bijnore district in Uttar Pradesh. “The girls boarded a train to Delhi from Mandsaur and on reaching the national capital, they were taken to Bijnore,” Chaudhary further added.

    In Bijnore, they were kept in a house and were allegedly raped by the two men. 

    Meanwhile, one of the girl’s family filed a complaint with the Suvarsa police. The police, during their probe, went to Delhi and after receiving a specific tip-off traced the two girls to Bijnore. With the help of their counterparts in Chandpur police station, the cops were able to free the two girls from captivity on February 6 and bring them back to Mandsaur on Sunday night 

    While the police were able to arrest one of the accused identified as Sahil Hasan (19), his maternal uncle Irfan is still absconding. The accused duo has been booked for rape and abduction under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, besides provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 (POCSO) and the SC/ST Atrocities Act. They have also been booked under the MP Dharma Swatantreya Adhyadesh 2020. 

    This is the fifth case registered under the new anti-conversion law in BJP-ruled MP,  since the law was enacted through an ordinance, that came into force from January 9, 2021.

    Prior to this, two Muslim men were arrested in Bhopal and Barwani under the new law, while two other cases were registered for alleged forced religious conversion against Christian community persons in Indore and Balaghat district.

    However, this is the first time that anyone from outside Madhya Pradesh has been booked and arrested under the anti-conversion law.

    Under the new law, forced conversion of a minor, woman or a person from SC/ST would lead to a punishment ranging between two and ten years and a minimum penalty of Rs 50,000.