UTTARAKHAND
FREEDOM OF RELIGION ACT, 2018 THE UTTARAKHAND FREEDOM OF RELIGION ACT, 2018 [Act No. 28 of 2018] An Act to provide freedom of religion by prohibition of conversion
from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence,
coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage and for the
matters incidental thereto Be it enacted by the
Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly in the Sixty-ninth Year of the Republic of
India as follows: (1)
This Act may be called the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act,
2018. (2)
It shall extend to the whole of the State of Uttarakhand. (3)
It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may,
by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. In this Act, unless the
context otherwise requires: (a)
"Allurement" means and includes offer of any temptation
in the form of any gift or gratification or material benefit, either in cash or
kind or employment, free education in reputed school run by any religious body,
easy money, better lifestyle, divine pleasure or otherwise; (b)
"Convincing for conversion" means to make one person
agree to renounce one's religion and adopt another religion; (c)
"Force" includes a show of force or a threat of injury
of any kind to the person converted or sought to be converted or to any other
person or property including a threat of divine displeasure or social
ex-communication (d)
"Fraudulent" includes misrepresentation of any kind or
any other fraudulent contrivance; (e)
"Coercion" means compelling an individual to act against
his will by the use of psychological pressure or physical force causing bodily
injury or threat thereof; (f)
"Undue influence" means the Unconscientious use by one
person of his power or influence over another in order to persuade the other to
act in accordance with the will of the person exercising such influence; (g)
"Conversion" means renouncing one religion and adopting
another; (h)
"Minor" means a person under eighteen years of age; (i)
"Religion" means any organised system of faith, belief,
worship or lifestyle, as prevailing in India or any part of it, and defined
under any law or custom for the time being in force; (j)
"Religious priest" means priest of any religion who
performs purification Sanskar or conversion ceremony of any religion and by
whatever name is called such as pujari, pandit, mulla, maulvi, father etc.; (k)
The words and expressions used in this Act and not defined in it
but defined in any other law for the time being in force in India or in State
of Uttarakhand shall have the same meaning assigned to them respectively. No person shall convert or
attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one
religion to another by use of misrepresentati.on, force, undue influence,
coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage nor shall any person
abet or conspire such conversion: Provided that, if any
person comes back to his ancestral religion, shall not be deemed conversion
under this Act. Any aggrieved person under
Section 3 or his parents or brother-sister complaint to the Court of such
conversion of religion on the ground that it would contravene of the conditions
specified in Section 3: Provided that, where
aggrieved person or his brother or sister are under the age of eighteen years,
or are idiot or lunatic, or are from sickness or infirmity unable to make a
complaint some other person or by any other person who is related to him by
blood, marriage or adoption, a complaint may be made on his behalf with the
leave of the Court. Whoever contravenes the
provisions of Section 3 shall, without prejudice to any civil liability, be
punished with imprisonment for a term, which shall not be less than one year
but which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine: Provided that whoever
contravenes the provisions of Section 3 in respect of a minor, a woman or a
person belonging to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe shall be punished
with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than two years but which
may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine. Any marriage which was done
for the sole purpose of conversion by the man of one religion with the woman of
another religion either by converting himself before or after marriage or by
converting the woman before or after marriage may be declared null and void by
the family court or where family court is not established, the court having
jurisdiction to try such case on a petition presented by either party thereto
against the other party of the marriage. Every petition under
Section 6 shall be presented to the family court or where family court is not
established, the court having jurisdiction to try such case within the local
limits-- (i)
the marriage was solemnized; or (ii)
the respondent, at the time of the presentation of the petition,
resides; or (iii)
the parties to the marriage last resided together; or (iv)
in case the wife is the petitioner, where she is residing on the
date of presentation of the petition. (1)
One who desires to convert his religion, shall give a declaration
at least one month in advance, in the prescribed pro forma, to the District
Magistrate or the Executive Magistrate specially authorised by District
Magistrate that he wishes to convert his religion on his own and at his free
consent and without any force, coercion, undue influence or allurement. (2)
The religion priest, who performs purification Sanskar or
conversion ceremony for converting any person of one religion to another
religion, shall give one month's advance notice of such conversion, in the
prescribed pro forma, to the District Magistrate or any other officer appointed
for that purpose of the District Magistrate of the district where such ceremony
is proposed to be performed. (3)
The District Magistrate, after receiving the information under
sub-sections (1) and (2), shall get an enquiry conducted through police, with
regard to real intention, purpose and cause of that proposed religion
conversion. (4)
Contravention of the sub-section (1) and/or sub-section (1) shall
have the effect of rendering the said conversion, illegal and void. (5)
Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be
punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three
months, but may extend to one year and shall also be liable to fine. (6)
Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (2) shall be
punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months,
but may extend to two year and shall also be liable to fine. No prosecution for an
offence under Section 8 shall be instituted by any person except by or with the
previous sanction of the District Magistrate or such other authority not below
the rank of a Sub-Divisional Magistrate, as may be authorised by him in this
behalf. If any institution or
organisation violates the provisions of this Act, the person or persons in
charge of the affairs of the organisation or institution, as the case may be,
shall be subject to punishment as provided under Section 5 and the registration
of the organisation or institution under any law for the time being in force
may be cancelled after giving reasonable opportunity of hearing. Notwithstanding anything
contained in any law for the time being in force, no person or organisation
violating the provisions of this Act shall be allowed to accept any donation or
contribution of any kind from within the country or abroad. When an offence is
committed under this Act, each of the following shall be deemed to have taken
part in committing the offence and to be guilty of the offence and shall be
charged as if he has actually committed it, that is to say,-- (i)
every person who actually does the act which constitutes the
offence; (ii)
every person who does or omits to do any act for the purpose of
enabling or aiding another person to commit the offence; (iii)
every person who aids or abets another person in committing the
offence; (iv)
any person who counsels or procures any other person to commit the
offence. The burden of proof as to
whether a religious conversion was not effected through misrepresentation
force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by
marriage lies on the person so converted and where such conversion has been
facilitated by any person, on such other person. Notwithstanding anything
contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, every offence committed
under this Act shall be non-bailable. (1) If any
difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the
Government of State of Uttarakhand may, by order published in the Official
Gazette, make such provisions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this
Act, as appear to it, to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty: Provided that no such order
shall be made after the expiry of a period of two years from the date of
commencement of this Act. (2) Every
order made under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be
laid before State Legislature. (1)
The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette,
make rules or regulations for carrying out the provisions of this Act. (2)
All rules made under this section shall be laid before the State
Legislature, as soon as may be, after they are made, and shall be subject to
such modifications, as the State Legislature may make, during the session. (3)
Any modification so made under sub-section (2) shall be published
in the Official Gazette, and shall thereupon take effect.
Preamble - UTTARAKHAND FREEDOM OF RELIGION ACT, 2018PREAMBLE