Jharkhand Cabinet approves Religious Freedom Bill 2017

Jharkhand Cabinet has approved Religious Freedom Bill 2017 in which forceful or allurement induced religious conversion will be a non-bailable criminal offence. According to an official release in Ranchi yesterday, Section three of the Bill prohibits forceful conversion.

In the event of violation of section three, there will be up to three years imprisonment or 50,000 rupees penalty or both. The release



added, if the crime involved a minor, woman or person from SC or ST community then the prison term would be up to four years and a penalty of one lakh rupees.

Allurement for religious conversion has been well defined in the bill, where cash or economic benefits for religious conversion are included. The bill would be tabled in the upcoming monsoon session of Jharkhand Assembly.