Bengaluru
While the State Cabinet has decided to repeal the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2022 (popularly termed anti-conversion law), questions have now been raised on what will happen to those booked under the Act, since it became operational in the State in May 2022.
According to the State Crime Records Bureau, till date, 21 cases have been registered under the law, across the State. The accused are booked on the allegations of forcibly converting people either through inducement, threat or other measures. While Home Minister G. Parameshwara, when asked about the future course of these cases, maintained that he would not comment on legal and procedural aspects of these cases, the former Law Minister J.C. Madhuswamy said that if the law was repealed, then the cases would be abated.
Advocate Arvind Narrain, president of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties - Karnataka, said that given that the State government had decided to repeal the anti-conversion Act, it was imperative that it also protects those who have been booked under the law since it had come into effect in the State. “There are two ways to do this: the State Cabinet can take a decision and withdraw prosecution in all these cases or the new Bill all set to be tabled in the legislature to repeal this law, can include a clause that all cases registered under the law will abate,” he said.
Either way, the State will have to ensure the withdrawal of all the cases, experts argue. B.T. Venkatesh, a legal expert, said if the Bill that would be piloted in the legislature to repeal the law says “law is repealed at once”, then all cases would be abated. Repealing at once means it has a retrospective effect and its scope applies from the day this anti-conversion law was enacted. In this case, the State does not have to withdraw proceedings in the courts.
In another scenario, if the State government while repealing the law says that the repealed law would come into effect from a designated date, then these cases would not automatically be abated. The State government then again has to pass fresh orders to withdraw proceedings of all the cases. However, if these cases also have other charges such as kidnap or assault, these charges may continue based on their merit.
Mr. Madhuswamy told The Hindu, “Usually, when the law is repealed by the State, it will have retrospective effect and all the existing cases booked under the Act will be abated immediately.” However, he argued that under the anti-conversion law, the previous government had not banned conversions but only laid down legal procedure for conversion.
