Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018
No: 28 Dated: May, 14 2018
Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018
(Uttarakhand Act No. 28 of 2018)
An Act to provided freedom of religion by prohibition of conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fradulent 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. Short title, extent and commencement. - (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.
2. Definitions. - 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) "Fradulent" 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.
3. Prohibition of conversion from one religon to another religion by misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion, allurement or marriage. - No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one religion to another by use of misrepresentation, 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.
4. Complaint to conversion of religion. - 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.
5. Punishment for contravention of provisions of Section 3. - 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.