MP Home Ministry Brings New Anti-Conversion Law Into Effect

The Madhya Pradesh Home Ministry has notified the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance, 2020.

Image used for representation purpose.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

The Madhya Pradesh Home Ministry, on Saturday, 9 January, notified the MP Freedom of Religion Ordinance, 2020, in the Madhya Pradesh Gazette, thereby bringing the law into effect, reported ANI.

The ordinance, shared by ANI, reads:

“An Ordinance to provide freedom of religion by prohibiting conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, allurement, use of threat or force, undue influence, coercion, marriage or any fraudulent means and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. [sic]”   

The Ordinance further says that as the State Legislature in not in session, “the Governor of Madhya Pradesh is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action [sic].”

BACKGROUND

As the Madhya Pradesh Assembly's winter session stood cancelled due to several MLAs and lawmakers testing positive for COVID-19, the Shivraj Chouhan government on Tuesday, 29 December, promulgated the MP Freedom to Religion Ordinance, 2020.

This latest development comes even as the Supreme Court has agreed to hear petitions challenging the anti-conversion laws that have been brought in by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments in the states.