Gujarat Assembly passes bill penalising forcible conversions by marriage

The Gujarat Assembly on Thursday passed an amendment bill that attracts maximum of Rs 5 lakh fine for forcible conversion through marriage or any other fraudulent means.

The Gujarat Assembly on Thursday passed an amendment bill that attracts maximum of Rs 5 lakh fine for forcible conversion through marriage or any other fraudulent means and provides for a prison sentence of up to ten years. The bill amended a 2003 law which penalises religious conversion through coercion or allurement. As per the government, the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2021 sought to curtail "emerging trend in which women are lured to marriage for the purpose of religious conversion".