JOIN USAnti-conversion bill: Karnataka's ordinance route is wrong
The Basavaraj Bommai cabinet has decided to take the ordinance route to give effect to the controversial Karnataka Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021, commonly known as the anti-conversion Bill. Article 213 of the Constitution empowers the Governor to promulgate an ordinance on the advice of the council of ministers, during the recess of the legislature, when “circumstances exist which renders necessary for him to take immediate action”. In the instant case, the government has failed to explain what factors have forced it to act to give emergency effect to the Bill. The Bill was passed in the Assembly in December 2021 but was pending before the Council where the ruling BJP is one short of a majority. There were no complaints of forced conversions in the intervening period and the legislature was anyway scheduled to convene in the next couple of months. The government was also empowered to initiate action against any forced conversion under existing laws. Thus, the only plausible explanation is that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai decided to take the ordinance route under pressure from the party and its ‘parivar’, who have been setting the communal agenda for his government since he took office in July last.
Article 25 of the Constitution lays down that all citizens are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice, and propagate religion, subject to public order, morality and health. While the stated objective of the ordinance is to stop “forced conversion” by making it a cognisable and non-bailable offence, the real motive appears to be to harass the Christian community, the main target of the Bill, and those who seek to convert even voluntarily. The Bill requires a person intending to convert to notify the district magistrate two months in advance, who then will get the police to enquire about the motivation to convert. This requirement is contrary to the freedom granted under the Constitution. Worryingly, what happens when such a notice falls into the hands of Hindutva vigilante groups? Offences under the ordinance can attract a jail term of three months to 10 years.
The government has so far not been able to furnish any figures on the police complaints filed against forced conversions or the number of convictions to bolster its claim that forced conversions are rampant. Sometime ago, when BJP MLA from Hosadurga Goolihatti Shekar complained that a large number of people, including his own mother, were forcibly converted into Christianity, an inquiry ordered by the government had found the charge to be false. The Governor must send the ordinance back to the government for reconsideration.