Yet Another Indian State To Criminalize Religious Conversions

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(UCA News) — Rajasthan is poised to become the 12th state in India to enact a draconian law to criminalize religious conversions.

The state’s ruling pro-Hindu BJP or Bhartiya Janta Party government announced its plans to formulate an anti-conversion law in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The move is a response to a public interest litigation filed by New Delhi based lawyer cum BJP leaderseeking stringent steps by federal and state governments to control fraudulent religious conversions. The petition alleged the involvement of Christians in fraudulent religious conversion.

Eleven Indian states, most of them ruled by the BJP, have enacted the repressive law. Christian leaders say hardline Hindus may misuse the anti-conversion law to target them with impunity. India’s religious minorities including Muslims and Christians have endured severe persecution since the pro-Hindu BJP came to power in 2014.

UCA News

The Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News, UCAN) is the leading independent Catholic news source in Asia. A network of journalists and editors that spans East, South and Southeast Asia, UCA News has for four decades aimed to provide the most accurate and up-to-date news, feature, commentary and analysis, and multimedia content on social, political and religious developments that relate or are of interest to the Catholic Church in Asia.

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