Anatomy of anti-conversion laws: SHREYAM SHARMA AND SHWETA VELAYUDHAN·DECEMBER 24, 2021 https://theleaflet.in/anatomy-of-anti-conversion-laws-part-i/
A complaint under the Karnataka Bill can be filed by any converted person, his parents, brother, sister, or anyone related to him by blood, marriage or adoption, or in any form associated or a colleague. However, the burden of proof to prove that the religious conversion is not unlawful lies on the person who caused the conversion and any abettor. Offences under the statute are cognisable and non-bailable.
Following India’s independence, Parliament introduced a number of anti-conversion bills, but none were enacted. First, the Indian Conversion (Regulation and Registration) Bill was introduced in 1954, which sought to enforce “licensing of missionaries and the registration of conversion with government officials”. This bill failed to gather majority support in the Lok Sabha. This was followed by the introduction of the Backward Communities (Religious Protection) Bill in 1960, “which aimed at checking conversion of Hindus to ‘non-Indian religions’ which, as per the definition in the Bill, included Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism”.
The Freedom of Religion Bill was introduced in Parliament in 1979. It sought “official curbs on inter-religious conversion.” These bills were also not passed by Parliament due to a lack of political support. In 2015, the Union law ministry had given the opinion that a law against forced and fraudulent conversions could not be created at a national level, since law-and-order is a State subject under the Constitution. However, state governments can enact such laws