<p>The Uttarakhand government is contemplating making the state's anti-conversion law more stringent, providing for jail terms up to ten years and has sought a proposal to this effect from the state police chief.</p>.<p>The Pushkar Singh Dhami government has sought the proposal, apprehending the worsening of communal amity amid demographic changes in some regions of the state.</p>.<p>Uttarakhand Director General of Police Ashok Kumar on Saturday said Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami recently asked the Police Department to put up a proposal for enacting a more stringent anti-conversion law. Accordingly, the Police Department has forwarded a two-page proposal to the government to amend the state’s anti-conversion law on the line of that for Uttar Pradesh.</p>.<p>He said the police has recommended to the government to make the acts of forcible religious conversion a cognisable offence with a sentence of a minimum three-year jail term to the maximum of 10 years along with a fine of Rs 25,000.</p>.<p>He said the state’s current law on the issue makes the forcible conversion a non-cognisable offence requiring the complaint to file a complaint in a court seeking its directions to the police to register an FIR. But the state’s new proposal seeks to make the forced religious conversion a cognisable offence, authorising police to lodge an FIR on its own without waiting for any court direction.</p>.<p>Additional Chief Secretary Abhinav Kumar of Chief Minister Dhami said that the police proposal is being examined currently.</p>.<p>The government's decision to tighten the anti-conversion law comes in the wake of an attack by miscreants at a church in Roorkee of Haridwar district for allegedly promoting mass conversion.</p>.<p>Last month, the state government had asked police to act against the consistent migration by the people of a particular community amid the rising population of another community in a particular region of the state.</p>.<p>In this context, the state government had asked the police to identify the affected districts and act against the anti-social elements living there.</p>.<p>The police have also been asked to prepare a list of anti-social elements with criminal antecedents who have settled in those affected districts of the state after migrating from outside.</p>.<p>The police have been asked to prepare a record of such people after verifying their native places. The districts magistrates of these regions too have been asked to keep a tab on illegal sale purchase of land in their areas and ensure that no land transaction takes place under duress.</p>.<p><strong>Watch latest videos by DH here:</strong></p>
<p>The Uttarakhand government is contemplating making the state's anti-conversion law more stringent, providing for jail terms up to ten years and has sought a proposal to this effect from the state police chief.</p>.<p>The Pushkar Singh Dhami government has sought the proposal, apprehending the worsening of communal amity amid demographic changes in some regions of the state.</p>.<p>Uttarakhand Director General of Police Ashok Kumar on Saturday said Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami recently asked the Police Department to put up a proposal for enacting a more stringent anti-conversion law. Accordingly, the Police Department has forwarded a two-page proposal to the government to amend the state’s anti-conversion law on the line of that for Uttar Pradesh.</p>.<p>He said the police has recommended to the government to make the acts of forcible religious conversion a cognisable offence with a sentence of a minimum three-year jail term to the maximum of 10 years along with a fine of Rs 25,000.</p>.<p>He said the state’s current law on the issue makes the forcible conversion a non-cognisable offence requiring the complaint to file a complaint in a court seeking its directions to the police to register an FIR. But the state’s new proposal seeks to make the forced religious conversion a cognisable offence, authorising police to lodge an FIR on its own without waiting for any court direction.</p>.<p>Additional Chief Secretary Abhinav Kumar of Chief Minister Dhami said that the police proposal is being examined currently.</p>.<p>The government's decision to tighten the anti-conversion law comes in the wake of an attack by miscreants at a church in Roorkee of Haridwar district for allegedly promoting mass conversion.</p>.<p>Last month, the state government had asked police to act against the consistent migration by the people of a particular community amid the rising population of another community in a particular region of the state.</p>.<p>In this context, the state government had asked the police to identify the affected districts and act against the anti-social elements living there.</p>.<p>The police have also been asked to prepare a list of anti-social elements with criminal antecedents who have settled in those affected districts of the state after migrating from outside.</p>.<p>The police have been asked to prepare a record of such people after verifying their native places. The districts magistrates of these regions too have been asked to keep a tab on illegal sale purchase of land in their areas and ensure that no land transaction takes place under duress.</p>.<p><strong>Watch latest videos by DH here:</strong></p>