Controversial report prompts Madhya Pradesh Govt. to propose stricter anti–conversion law

Bhopal – In a move that is expected to increase the misery of the Christian missionaries working in Madhya Pradesh, the state government has declared that it will amend its anti–conversion law to check the conversion of tribal people to Christianity, Christian Today has confirmed.

Bhagirath Prasad, principal secretary of the State Home Department, confirmed that the government was considering amendments to the Dharma Swatantraya Adhiniyam (Freedom of Religion) Act of 1968.

“Although the existing law is sufficient to check conversions by force or fraudulent means, we need to ensure the implementation of the provision that requires all conversions to be reported to the state government,” Prasad said. “We do not have any draft of the proposed amendments to the law yet, but we are examining the law to see what can be done.”

Under Section 5(1) of the present Act, the collector must be notified within seven days of a conversion taking place.

Failure to comply with this provision can lead to imprisonment for up to one year and a heavy fine, even if the conversion is found to be voluntary.

Similarly, under Sections 5 and 6 of the Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantraya Adhinayam Rules of 1969, collectors must pass on details about reported conversions to the state government on the 10th day of every month.

People protesting against the government’s decision have claimed that it was prompted by the the controversial and baseless report prepared by former state director–general of police (DGP), Narendra Prasad, on the communal violence in Jhabua last year.

The report of Prasad that was submitted to the government on May 21 and published later in the newspapers on July 11, has alleged that “huge conversions” in Jhabua were widening the rift between the Hindu and Christian communities and were leading to communal tension.

According to the report, Christian missionaries were forcibly converting large numbers of tribal peoples in the state and as evidence, cited census data showing that the Christian population in Jhabua had increased by 80 percent from 1991 to 2001.

Prasad’s report blamed Christian missionaries and government laxity for the “huge” numbers of conversions and pointed an accusatory finger at the Christian missionaries for last year’s confrontation between Christians and groups opposing conversions in the district of Jhabua.

The Jhabua violence, which resulted in the burning of three churches, illegal detention of 11 Christians since January 2004 until date, and the torching of houses of 15 Christian families, was ignited by the brutal rape and killing of a 9–year old girl within a church compund in Jhabua on January 11, 2004.

Although, subsequently, police investigations revealed the rapist and the murderer was a Hindu, the Narendra Prasad Inquiry Committee, established by the state government in February 2004 sought to point the blame elsewhere.

Several churches, Christian advocacy groups and organizations, including the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) and the CBCI, had strongly condemned the “irresponsible” report of Prasad and have accused it of fanning communal violence in the already tense district (read article: EFI questions “irresponsible” report prepared on Jhabua incident. http://in.christiantoday.com/news/nat_746.htm).

“It is beyond the jurisdiction of the state government to act on a ‘one man’ inquiry when ... the report of the Madhya Pradesh State Minority Commission (SMC) is awaited,” said Indira Ayengar, member, SMC, according to whom the report was “visibly one–sided” and spoke only “about conversions from the point of view of anti–conversion forces.”

Ayengar also denounced the report as it was silent on the burning of three churches; the illegal detention of 11 Christians from January 2004 until now; the torching of 15 houses belonging to Christian families; and the criminal conduct of Nahar Singh, a member of the state legislative assembly from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who led the attacks on Christians.

“After the anti–Christian attacks in Jhabua, the collector (administrative head of district) clearly told me that he had not received a single complaint about forcible conversion in the last 10 years,” asserted Ayengar, dismissing the charges that Christian missionaries have used force and allurement to convert tribal people.

The Commission is yet to release its own report on the girl’s murder and the ensuing violence.

According to 2001 Census figures, Christians account for just 170,381 of 60.3 million residents in Madhya Pradesh.