India just approved a controversial anti-conversion law. With the new law, Christians are more likely to suffer from persecution and religiously motivated violence in the country, reports say.
International Christian Concern (ICC), a persecution watchdog revealed that the government party led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Uttar Pradesh has approved a new ordinance, the "Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance" which has the same legal effects as the anti-conversion law in India's eight states also known as the Freedom of Religion Acts.
Under the new ordinance, religious conversions that are "forcible or dishonest" will be punished. Those who will be found guilty of disobeying the newly passed ordinance will have to pay a fine of 15,000 rupees, or approximately $203, and suffer jail time from one to five years.
The punishment for women, minors and members of the low caste communities are even worse with a higher fine of 25,000 rupees, or approximately $339, and a longer jail time of three to 10 years.
According to ICC, the draft ordinance was approved and presided over by the Uttar Pradesh State Cabinet's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with the intention of curbing religious conversions that are forced or dishonest.
To further justify the ordinance, Adityanath reported his concern over many Hindu women who are being tricked to convert to Islam through marriage to Muslim men. The so-called conversion is known as "love jihad."
While the ordinance has been first approve in November, it will only remain valid for six months until the state legislature of Uttar Pradesh is in session. Right now, state governors will have the power to implement the ordinance under India's Constitution. Once Uttar Pradesh's state legislature reconvenes, the ordinance will then be confirmed as a law.
On a side note, ICC explains that in history, radical Hindu nationalists like the BJP have justified the "specter of mass religious conversions" especially to Christianity to limit religious freedom in India. Other Hindu nationalist group that have expressed agreement
Despite its massive population of about 200 million people, the total number of Christians only makes up about 2.3 percent of India's population - which puts them as a minority group in the rather populous state at a total of at least 350,000 Christians.
Another concern among people of Christian faith is that radical laws on religious conversions are used by Hindu militant groups to prosecute and make false accusations against them. Police also seem to turn a blind eye on violence against believers under the accusation of "forced" conversions and consider violence against Christians as "isolated incidents" despite numerous reports.
The ICC's Regional Manager for South Asia, William Stark, has expressed the group's deep disappointment to the approval of the new ordinance because of its legal ambiguity that is abused by radical Hindu nationalists.
"Often, these laws provide justification for nationalists to attack Christian leaders with impunity. One simply needs to claim that a pastor was engaged in forceful conversions to justify an assault.
"With attacks on Indian Christians and other minorities continuing to escalate, the approval of an anti-conversion ordinance in India's most populous state will only incite more religiously motivated violence," Stark notes.
The Christian Post added that most of the hate crimes against Christians occurred in Uttar Pradesh and only escalated since the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi rose to power in 2014.
