The Modi government has no plan to bring a nationwide anti conversion law to regulate interfaith marriages in the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told Parliament on Tuesday.
Responding to a query by five members of Parliament (MPs) on whether the government intends to propose a central anti-conversion law, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha: “No, Sir”.
Asked if the government was of the view that interfaith marriages were happening due to forceful conversions, Reddy said that issues related to religious conversions are primarily the concern of state governments. He added that law enforcement agencies take action whenever such instances of violation come to the fore.
“Public order and police are state subjects as per the seventh schedule to the constitution of India. Hence prevention, detection, registration, investigation and prosecution of offences related to religious conversions are primarily the concerns of the state governments and union territory administrations. Action is taken as per existing laws by the law enforcing agencies whenever instances of violation come to notice,” Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy said.
The minister’s statement was in response to questions raised by five Congress MPs from Kerala who had asked whether the government believed that forced conversions were taking place because of interfaith marriages and details of any laws planned to curb them.
The questions came in the wake of widely-criticised laws that target interfaith marriages enacted by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh—both states are ruled by the BJP. Several other BJP-ruled states such as Haryana, Assam and Karnataka have also announced plans for such laws.
Punishments under the anti-conversion law currently range between one to 10 years of imprisonment in case of forced conversion for marriage. Several cases have already been registered in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Human right activists have spoken out against the laws, which they allege are persecuting minorities.