GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat assembly on Thursday passed a bill proposing amendments to the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003 paving way for more stringent punishment for forced religious conversions through marriage. The amendment bill provides for up to 10 years of jail for ‘fradulent’ or ‘forced’ conversion by marriage.
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”.
The BJP government in Gujarat claimed that ‘love jihad’ or forced conversion had become a major law and order issue