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Dalit Conversion
The Maharashtra cabinet has cleared a draft anti-conversion bill, which makes it mandatory to seek permission from a competent authority before converting to another religion. A person who wants to convert must give a 60-day notice and seek permission from the designated authority before converting, an official said on Thursday, sharing details of the proposed legislation. Further, a conversion must be registered with the authority within 25 days, or it will be considered null and void, he said. If the blood relative of a person who wishes to convert files a complaint about the same being unlawful, police will register a First Information Report and conduct a probe, as per the bill. The right to religious freedom does not include the right to convert by force, fraud or allurement but includes the right to be protected from such unlawful conversions, the bill said. Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Nitesh Rane said the cabinet has approved a strong anti-conversion law, adding the
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday slammed religious conversions in the name of healing, saying it is unfortunate that such practices are still followed in independent India. The CM of the BJP-ruled state claimed that efforts are being made to change people's faith by offering them treatment or healing them. These practices which were started to convert tribals in the name of education or healing are continuing even after the country has become independent, Sawant said, addressing the state-level function to mark the 150th birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda at Sankhalim in North Goa. Birsa Munda's birth anniversary is observed as 'Janjatiya Gaurav Divas'. Referring to religious conversions, the CM said a bhul bhulaiya (maze) has been created and people should be cautious about such preachers who indulge in the practice under the guise of healing. Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge in 2014, Sawant claimed that the British-era practice of converting ..