Uttarakhand

• 23 Dec 2022

Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2022

Why In News?

• On December 22, 2022, Uttarakhand's Additional Secretary Legislative Mahesh Kaushiba told that the Governor has approved the Uttarakhand Religion Freedom Amendment Bill 2022. After getting the seal of the Raj Bhavan, the Act has now become effective in the state.

Key Points

• Confirming the Governor's assent to the bill, Additional Secretary Mahesh Kaushiba said that now the amendment law has come into effect in the state. This anti-conversion law is stricter than Uttar Pradesh.
• The Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was approved at a meeting of the Uttarakhand Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on November 16, 2022.
• Under the amendment law, now there will be a punishment of up to 10 years for forcible or luring or fraudulent conversion in the state. In the new law, a fine of 50 thousand rupees has been provided.
• In case of mass conversion, the punishment will now be three to ten years, earlier the maximum punishment was three years. Also, the victims will be able to get a reimbursement of five lakh rupees through the court.
• 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.