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Christians decry plan in India for death penalty for conversions

Michie

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Activists in India are decrying remarks from the leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in which the politician threatened to prescribe the death penalty for religious conversions in Madhya Pradesh state.

“A provision for capital punishment will be made in the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act for religious conversion,” declared Mohan Yadav, BJP chief minister of the state, at an International Women’s Day program on March 8.

Yadav said the state government “wouldn’t spare those behind illegal conversions.”

“Proposing the death penalty for religious conversion of girls is not only bizarre but deserves to be condemned by all who cherish the rights and freedoms enshrined and guaranteed in the constitution,” outspoken Jesuit peace activist Father Cedric Prakash told CNA on March 13.

Continued below.
 

JSRG

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Looking into it, it seems that the conversions that are illegal are what are regarded as forced conversions--in other words, it criminalizes forcing someone to convert, or doing so in fraudulent means. As this article explains:

The law in Madhya Pradesh has a provision to punish those found guilty of illegal conversion with up to 10 years imprisonment and a hefty fine. The law covers religious conversions through fraudulent means, like the pretext of marriage, misrepresentation, use of threat or force, influence, and coercion.

On the face of this, this law doesn't seem unreasonable, though it also seems like it could be easily abused. But even if the law isn't abused, the death penalty for this seems astoundingly harsh.
 
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