New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Did you know that the state of Odisha (then Orissa) was the first in the country to bring about an anti-conversion law?
This was mentioned in Parliament by Union home minister Amit Shah during the debate on the Waqf Amendment Bill on Wednesday. He brought this up to counter the Congress that has been accusing the BJP of being anti-Muslim and dividing the country on communal lines.
“Do you even know that Odisha and Madhya Pradesh were the first states in the country to bring about anti-conversion laws? But then, the Congress at that time was different. It was the Congress of Mahatma Gandhi,” Shah said.
The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967, became a law after receiving the governor’s assent on January 9, 1968, and being published in the Orissa Gazette two days later.
The Act says that: “No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religious faith to another by the use of force or by inducement or by any fraudulent means nor shall any person abet any such conversion.”
The Act goes on to mention that any person found guilty of such conversion is to be imprisoned for up to a year and fined Rs 5,000. In case a minor, woman, or member of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, is targeted, the sentence will extend to two years and the fine will go up to Rs 10,000.
Madhya Pradesh also has the Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantraya Adhiniyam, 1968.
Both these laws were challenged in court till the Supreme Court in Rev Stainislaus vs State of Madhya Pradesh, examined whether the right to practice and propagate one’s religion also included the right to convert. The Court then upheld the validity of both the Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantraya Adhiniyam, 1968, and the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967.
