Cabinet Approves Uttarakhand Religion Freedom (Amendment) Bill 2022

Why In News?

The Uttarakhand Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on November 16, 2022, approved the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill 2022.

Key Points

• 26 proposals came to the meeting, out of which 25 were approved. In these, the law of forced conversion in Uttarakhand has been made strict on the lines of Uttar Pradesh.
• Under the Uttarakhand Religion Freedom (Amendment) Bill 2022, those who forcefully convert in Uttarakhand will now be punished for up to ten years.
• Forcibly converting a person in Uttar Pradesh is punishable with imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of Rs 25,000, while in Uttarakhand, doing so will result in imprisonment of two to seven years and a fine of Rs 25,000.
• In the case of mass conversion in the state, now there will be a punishment of three to ten years, earlier there was a provision of maximum punishment of three years. Along with this, the victims will also be able to get compensation of five lakh rupees through the court.
• According to the information received from the media, the law of conversion in the state will now come under the category of cognizable and non-bailable offence. Earlier it was a non-cognizable offence. Now the government will put it on the table of the assembly.