Gujarat Freedom of Religion Bill
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The Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act (2003) requires
religious conversion Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...
s in
Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
, India, to be approved by a
district magistrate A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reve ...
.


Key points

The act in itself is alleged to go against the article 25 of the constitution of India (i.e. Right to freedom of religion) in addition to the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression and to gather peacefully. The parts of it described are as below: "(1) Whoever converts any person from one religion to another either by performing any ceremony by himself for such conversion as a religious priest or takes part directly or indirectly in such ceremony shall take prior permission for such proposed conversion from the District Magistrate concerned by applying in such form as may be prescribed by rules. (2) The person who is converted shall send an intimation to the District Magistrate of the District concerned in which the ceremony has taken place of the fact of such conversion within such period and in such form as may be prescribed by rules. (3) Whoever fails, without sufficient cause, to comply with the provisions of sub-sections (1) and (2) shall be punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to one year or with fine which may extend to rupees one thousand or with both." The above clauses prevent common people from gathering peacefully at any private function, and also attending the function requires a prior permission from the Magistrate. From 2011 to 2016, 94.4% of the applications for religious conversion in Gujarat were from
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
to another religion, and approximately half of the applications were declined by the state.


Supreme Court of India's opinion

In 2005, the Supreme Court of India declined to issue a
writ of mandamus (; ) is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a court to any government, subordinate court, corporation, or public authority, to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain fro ...
to grant Jains the status of a religious minority throughout India, and left it to the individual states to decide on the minority status of the Jain religion. However, the Supreme Court had recently observed that "The Jain Religion is indisputably not a part of Hindu Religion".


Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill 2006

In order to regulate religious conversions, the Gujarat government is proposing an amendment that will group
Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...
and
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
along with
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, and thus the adoption of any faith within the group will not be considered a conversion. The bill was passed by voice vote in the Gujarat assembly on 29 September 2006. All India Digambar Jain Mahasabha opposed the decision on 20 September 2006. Their leader stated, "Any government, as per their convenience and agenda cannot afford to curb our right of a religious identity". Bhartiya Dharma Rakshak Sena (BDRS), a small organisation said to be run by Jains, maintains that all religions in India are a part of Hinduism, "which is not a religion but a culture." In a press release, on 22 September 2006, Jasmin Shah, Piyush Jain and Abhay Shah of BDRS stated that the controversy is being promoted by forces who want to weaken Hinduism by creating minorities. They state that "Jainism is independent of Vedic religion, known as 'Hinduism'". The BDRS members claimed that there four sub-sects in Jainism, out of which one, the
Digambara ''Digambara'' (; "sky-clad") is one of the two major schools of Jainism, the other being '' Śvētāmbara'' (white-clad). The Sanskrit word ''Digambara'' means "sky-clad", referring to their traditional monastic practice of neither possessing ...
sect, is demanding a minority status. On 3 October 2006 the predominant Jain sect in Gujarat, the Shwetambar Murtipujak Jain Sangh, held a meeting with state's solicitor-general to assert that Jainism is a distinct religion and not a Hindu denomination. Shrenik Shah, Gujarat's leading industrialist and president of the All India Shwetambar Murtipujak Jain Sangh, said that they had held a meeting with Gujarat's solicitor-general and expressed their view to recognise Jainism as a distinct religion. "We are not primarily concerned with the conversion aspect of the bill. But we have asserted our view that Jainism is a distinct religion," said Shah The bill was withdrawn in March 2008.


Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The
Gujarat Legislative Assembly Gujarat Legislative Assembly or Gujarat Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Gujarat, in the state capital Gandhinagar. Presently, 182 members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected from single-member c ...
amended the Freedom of Religion Act to penalizes forcible or fraudulent religious conversion by marriage. The law made provisions for 3–10 years in jail and a fine of up to if the accused is found guilty. The amendments a 2003 was sought to curb the emerging trend in which women were being lured to marriage for the purpose of religious conversion. The bill was passed by the assembly on 14 June 2021


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gujarat Freedom Of Religion Bill Jainism and other religions Religious conversion in India Gujarat state legislation