Christians concerned over proposed amendment in anti-conversion law
10 July 2013: Christians in central India’s Madhya Pradesh State have expressed fear
over a proposed amendment to the anti-conversion law, making a priest party to a conversion.
The pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP- Indian people’s party) has proposed the
amendment to section 5 of the Madhya Pradesh Religious Freedom Act of 1968 that seeks
to include priests, increasing fears among Christians that the move will open the
door to false accusations of conversion by Hindu extremists. It also makes prior permission
a must. Permissions must be obtained at least a month in advance from the district
magistrate. Persons who desire to convert, as well as the priest who is preside over
the religious ceremony will have to apply for this permission. There is also a provision
for a police inquiry on the request. The priest has to fill in an application form
giving details of not just the venue and date of the ceremony, but also add a list
of names and addresses of those seeking conversion. This application has to be submitted
at the district magistrate's office a month before conversion. The cabinet has approved
this amendment and will introduce it in the monsoon session. Once the bill is passed
in the assembly it will become a law immediately, as it does not now require the approval
of the President. The hurried decision is a part of the grand plan prior to 2014
general elections to create a climate of suspicion and hatred towards Christian community,
the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) said in a statement, demanding that
the amendment be rejected. India's Freedom of Religion Acts, referred to as anti-conversion
laws, now have been implemented in six of India's 28 states and seven union territories.
The laws appear to seek to curb religious conversions made by "force," "fraud" or
"allurement." “The laws obstruct conversion generally as Hindu nationalists invoke
them to harass Christian workers with spurious arrests and incarcerations,” said Sajan
K George, GCIC national president in the statement. In the original Madhya Pradesh
Religious Freedom Act of 1968, the priest is not a party to such a conversion. The
law required the person who wanted to switch religion to inform the district magistrate
of the decision.