The Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion and Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2018

(1) This Act may be called the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion and Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion 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.

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 excommunication; (d) “Fraudulent” 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; (hh) “Mass Conversion” means where religion of two or more person is converted. (hhh) “Unlawful Conversion” means any conversion not in accordance with law of the land. (i) “Religion” means any organized 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 he 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.

(1) No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means. No person shall abet, convince or conspire such conversion. Explanation:- For the purposes of this sub-section conversion by solemnization of marriage or relationship in the nature of marriage on account of factors enumerated in this sub-section shall be deemed included. (2) If any person re-converts to his immediate previous religion, the same shall not be deemed to be a conversion under this Act. Explanation:- For the purpose of this sub-section immediate previous religion means the religion in which the person had faith, belief or was practiced by the person voluntarily and freely.

Any aggrieved person, his/her parents, brother, sister, or any other person who is related to him/her by blood, marriage or adoption may lodge a First Information Report of such conversion which contravenes the provisions of Section 3.

(1) 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 two years but which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less then Rs. 25,000: 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 ten years and shall also be liable to fine which shall be not less than Rs. 25,000: Provided further that whoever contravenes the provisions of section 3 in the respect of mass conversion shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than Rs. 50,000. (2) The Court shall also grant appropriate compensation payable by the accused to victims of said conversion which may extend maximum to Rs. 5,00,000 and shall be in addition to fine. (3) Whoever having been previously convicted of an offence under this Act is again convicted of an offence punishable under this Act, shall be liable for every such subsequent offence to punishment not exceeding double the punishment provided therefore under this Act.

Any marriage done for sole purpose of unlawful conversion or vice-versa by the man of one religion with the woman of another religion, either by converting himself/herself before or after marriage, or by converting the woman before or after marriage, shall be declared void by the family Court or where Family court is not established, the Court having jurisdiction to try such case on a petition presented by either party thereto against the other party of the marriage: Provided that all the provisions of section 8 and 9 shall apply for such marriage to be solemnized:

Every petition under section 6 shall be presented to the Family Court or where Family Court is not established, the Court having jurisdiction to try such case within the local limits- (i) the marriage was solemnized; or (ii) the respondent, at the time of the presentation of the petition, resides; or (iii) the parties to the marriage last resided together; or (iv) in case the wife is the petitioner, where she is residing on the date of presentation of the petition.

(1) One who desires to convert his religion, shall give a declaration at least one month in advance, in the prescribed proforma, to the District Magistrate or the Executive Magistrate specially authorized by District Magistrate that he wishes to convert his religion on his own and at his free consent and without any force, coercion, undue influence or allurement. (2) The religious priest, who performs purification Sanskar or conversion ceremony for converting any person of one religion to another religion, shall give one month's advance notice of such conversion, in the prescribed proforma, to the District Magistrate or any other officer appointed for that purpose by the District Magistrate of the district where such ceremony is proposed to be performed. (3) The District Magistrate, after receiving the information under sub-section (1) and (2), shall get an enquiry conducted through police, with regard to real intention, purpose and cause of that proposed religion conversion. (4) Contravention of the Sub-section (1) and/or sub-section (2) shall have the effect of rendering the said conversion, illegal and void. (5) whoever contravenes the provisions of sub- section (1) shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than Rs. 10,000. (6) whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (2) shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than Rs. 25,000.

(1) The converted person shall send a declaration in the form prescribed within sixty days of the date of conversion, to the District Magistrate of the District in which converted person resides ordinarily. (2) The District Magistrate shall exhibit a copy of declaration on the notice board of the office till the date of confirmation. (3) The said declaration shall contain the requisite details, i.e. the particulars of the convert such as date of birth, permanent address, and the present place of residence, father's/husband's name, the religion to which the convert originally belonged and the religion to which he has converted, the date and place of conversion and nature of process gone through for conversion. (4) The converted individual shall appear before the District Magistrate within 21 days from the date of sending/filing the declaration to establish her/his identity and confirm the contents of the declaration. (5) The District Magistrate shall record the facum of declaration and confirmation in a register maintained for this purpose. If any objections are notified, he may simply record them, i.e., the name and particulars of objectors and nature of objection. (6) Certified copies of declaration, confirmation and the extracts from the register shall be furnished to the parties, who gave the declaration to his/her authorized legal representative on his/her request. (7) The contravention of sub-sections (1) to (4) shall have the effect of rendering the said conversion illegal and void.

If any institution or organization violates the provisions of this Act, the person or persons in charge of the affairs of the organization or institution, as the case may be, shall be subject to punishment as provided under section 5 and the registration of the organization or institution under any law for the time being in force may be cancelled after giving reasonable opportunity of hearing.

Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no person or organization violating the provisions of this Act shall be allowed to accept any donation or contribution of any kind from within the country or abroad.

When an offence is committed under this Act, each of the following shall be deemed to have taken part in committing the offence and to be guilty of the offence, and shall be charged as if he has actually committed it, that is to say,- (i) Every person who actually does the act which constitutes the offence; (ii) Every person who does or omits to do any act for the purpose of enabling or aiding another person to commit the offence; (iii) Every person who aids or abets another person in committing the offence; (iv) Any person who counsels or procures any other person to commit the offence.

The burden of prove as to whether a religious conversion was not effected through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage lies on the person so converted and, where such conversion has been facilitated by any person, on such other person.

Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, all the offences under this Act shall be cognizable and non-bailable and triable by the Court of Session.

(1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Government of State of Uttarakhand may, by order published in the Official Gazette, make such provisions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as appear to it, to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty; Provided, that no such order shall be made after the expiry of a period of two years from the date of commencement of this Act. (2) Every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be laid before State Legislature.

(1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make Rules or Regulations for carrying out the provisions of this Act. (2) All Rules made under this section shall be laid before the State Legislature, as soon as may be, after they are made, and shall be subject to such modifications, as the State Legislature may make, during the session. (3) Any modification so made under sub-section (2) shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall thereupon take effect.