The Uttarakhand Assembly passed a tougher anti-conversion bill on Wednesday, making unlawful conversion a cognizable, non-bailable offence that carries a sentence of at least three years and up to ten years in prison, the Chief Minister of the state, Pushkar Singh Dhami posted on Twitter.
The Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2022 stipulates that, in addition to a prison sentence, any violator who engages in an unlawful conversion will also be subject to a fine of at least Rs 50,000.
Additionally, the criminal may be required to pay the victim up to Rs. 5 lakh in damages.
Previously, the punishment for unlawful conversion in the state ranged from one to seven years in prison, in addition to a fine. "No person shall convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means. No person shall abet, convince or conspire such conversion," says the Act.
"...under articles 25, 26, 27, and 28 of the Constitution of India, under Right to Freedom of Religion, to equally strengthen the importance of every religion, the amendment in Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 is necessary to remove certain difficulties in the Act," Minister for Religious Affairs Satpal Maharaj was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
A Bill giving state-domiciled women a 30% horizontal reservation in government jobs was also approved.
The state assembly approved the Uttarakhand Public Services (Horizontal Quota for Women) Bill, 2022, which grants 30 percent horizontal reservation to Uttarakhand-domiciled women in state services.
On Tuesday, this Bill was introduced in the House.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami stated its objectives and justifications, saying, "Due to the heterogeneous geographical structure of Uttarakhand, people living in remote areas of the state lead a difficult life. Especially the women of the state lead life in adverse conditions, due to which their standard of living is below the women of other states...," news agency PTI reported.
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"As a result, the Bill seeks to grant 30% horizontal reservation to women of Uttarakhand in state services in order to guarantee social justice, equality of opportunity, improvement in living conditions, gender equality in public planning, and so on," he said.
On Tuesday, the legislature also passed an appropriation Bill on additional demands for grants equal to Rs 5,440.43 crore introduced in the House for the current fiscal, before adjourning sine die.
(With Inputs From PTI)