Chhattisgarh Home Minister Vijay Sharma on Tuesday announced that the state government will introduce a “stringent” Bill against “illegal” religious conversions in the next Assembly session, with provisions to regulate “Changai Sabha” (healing congregations).
“In the next session of the Vidhan Sabha, we will bring an Act that I believe will go a step further than all other state-level anti-conversion laws, as our draft has been prepared after studying them in detail. Events like Changai Sabha, which are often organised to mislead people, must be stopped. There is a need for a legal provision to address such gatherings, and this Act will include one,” Sharma said.
At present, cases related to religious conversions in Chhattisgarh are governed by the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act, 1968.
While the Act is framed by Hindu nationalists as protecting vulnerable groups from coerced conversions, it has faced significant criticism for being selectively enforced against minorities, particularly Christians and Muslims, while shielding conversions to Hinduism.
On July 25 this year, two nuns from Kerala were arrested by the Durg Government Railway Police (GRP) for allegedly trafficking three women from Narayanpur district, an incident that triggered a major political controversy.
Earlier, in January 2023, a Hindu right-wing mob of around 50 people vandalised a church in Narayanpur district and attacked police officials, including the Superintendent of Police.
Following the attack, more than 100 Christian converts were reportedly socially boycotted in the districts of Kanker, Kondagaon, and Narayanpur, forcing them to take shelter in a stadium in Narayanpur.
In recent years, there have been multiple targeted attacks by right-wing groups against Christian communities across parts of the state, including Raipur, over alleged religious conversions.
In the Bastar region, converted tribal and Dalit Christians have also faced restrictions on burying their dead in common village burial grounds.
In January this year, a man named Ramesh Baghel approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to bury his father, Subhash, a pastor, in his native village of Chhindawada in Bastar district. The court dismissed the plea but directed the Chhattisgarh government to demarcate exclusive graveyard sites for Christians across the state within two months.
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