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This story is from February 2, 2021

No proposal on central anti-conversion law to curb inter-faith marriages, says Centre

The government on Tuesday ruled out any proposal to bring a central anti-conversion law to curb inter-faith marriages, stating that prevention, detection, registration, investigation and prosecution of offences related to religious conversions primarily lay in states’ domain.
No proposal on anti-conversion law to curb inter-faith marriages: Centre
Representative photo: Reuters
NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday ruled out any proposal to bring a central anti-conversion law to curb inter-faith marriages, stating that prevention, detection, registration, investigation and prosecution of offences related to religious conversions primarily lay in states’ domain.
Minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy, replying to a query in the Lok Sabha on whether the Union government felt inter-faith marriages were linked to forceful religious conversions, stated that ‘public order’ and ‘police’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.


“Hence prevention, detection, registration, investigation and prosecution of offences related to religious conversions are primarily the concerns of the state governments/Union Territory (UT) administrations. Action is taken as per existing laws by the law enforcing agencies whenever instances of violation come to notice,” he told the MPs.
On a specific query on whether the government intends to propose a Central anti-conversion law to curb inter-faith marriages, Reddy replied, “No, Sir”.

The query, submitted by five MPs, comes in the wake of some BJP-ruled states enacting laws to regulate inter-faith marriages involving forced conversion. Such laws were recently brought by governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, while Assam and Karnataka governments have announced their intention to enact similar laws to curb inter-faith marriages based on forced conversion.
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About the Author
Bharti Jain

Bharti Jain is senior editor with The Times of India, New Delhi. She has been writing on security matters since 1996. Having covered the Union home ministry, security agencies, Election Commission and the ‘prime’ political beat, the Congress, for The Economic Times all these years, she moved to TOI in August 2012. Her repertoire of news stories delves into the whole gamut of issues related to terrorism and internal strife, besides probing strategic affairs in India’s neighbourhood.

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