India’s Anti-Conversion Laws: The Death of Secularism Suhrith Parthasarathy https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/india-s-anti-conversion-laws-death-secularism
The Karnataka bill on conversions goes much further than the laws enacted in other states in its infraction of liberty and it contains a raft of illegitimate provisions. Its intentions have been laid bare by the belligerence that has accompanied its advocacy.
In his magisterial commentary on the Constitution of India, HM Seervai describes the Supreme Court’s judgment in Rev. Stanislaus v. State of Madhya Pradesh (1977) as “clearly wrong”, as “productive of the greatest public mischief,” and as a verdict that “ought to be overruled”. More than four decades later, the judgment continues to stand and has spawned a series of legislations that strike at the heart of Indian secularism. The latest in this series is the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021.
on the face of it a law that seeks to ban the use of coercive forces to incite conversion might seem to be in harmony with the Constitution. But what the Supreme Court failed to realise in Stanislaus was that these laws, despite their professed framing, have never been intended to address genuine legislative concerns. On the contrary, they have always been aimed at strengthening brute majoritarian beliefs. This is evident from the politics that has come to define the new Karnataka bill. The draft law criminalises conversion secured either by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, or allurement, or by any other fraudulent means or “by promise of marriage.” It defines allurement as including an offer of any temptation that might take the nature not only of gifts in the form of money, but also offers of “free education” or a “better lifestyle.” As events in the lead up to and since the bill’s introduction have only made all too clear, the real intention here is to intimidate minorities, especially those of the Christian faith in the state.