The Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday passed an amendment bill to make punishments under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act more stringent.

Under the amended provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024, if a person threatens, attacks, marries or promises to marry or conspires for it, or traffics a woman, a minor or anyone with the intention of conversion, then that person's crime will be placed in the most serious category.

While the maximum punishment under the act stood at 10 years earlier along with a fine of Rs 50,000, the amended bill provides a 20-year punishment or life imprisonment.

The bill was introduced in the House on Monday by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna, news agency PTI reported.

Any person can register an FIR in conversion cases under the amended provisions. Notably, the scope has been increased against the earlier arrangement of the necessary need of the victim, parents or siblings being present to give any information or complaint in the case.

It was also proposed that such cases will not be heard by any court below sessions court. Additionally, any bail plea will also not be considered without giving an opportunity to the public prosecutor. All the crimes under this act have been made non-bailable.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had taken this initiative with the intent of controlling 'love jihad', a term used for alleged forcible conversion.

An ordinance for the same was also issued in November 2020 and later, following which the bill was passed by both the houses of the Uttar Pradesh Legislature and the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act-2021 came into force.

Oppn Accuses UP Govt Of 'Communal Politics'

The opposition, Samajwadi Party and Azad Samaj Party, have accused the state government of indulging in communal politics.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav slammed the UP government over the bill, accusing it of trying to divert people's attention through communal politics.

“What else do they have, they are not doing anything new,” he told reporters outside the Parliament when asked about the bill in the UP Assembly.

SP's Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad also spoke on similar lines, saying, “Prime Minister Modi ji also comes from Uttar Pradesh, but the situation of the state is very bad at present. Farmers are spending nights in fields, not at home... Stray animals have killed many farmers… Issues like paper leak, price rise, unemployment are the issues faced by people."

“Transformers get burnt and are not changed, farmers are unable to sow paddy… To distract from all this, they are talking about ‘Love Jihad’, conversion, so that their failures are not discussed, that is their aim,” he added.

The MP, who was elected from Faizabad which also covers the Ayodhya district, said politics based on religion will not work in the nation, saying that by making him win, "people have given the message that communal politics will not work".

Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) MP Chandrashekhar also accused the Yogi Adityanath government of trying to distract people's attention from the main issues.

“Government is not able to fulfil the basic needs of people. They are unable to provide food, shelter, and housing… good health, good education, but they are totally focused on such issues because it suits them,” he said.

“For us employment and price rise are the issues. So we are working on it,” Chandrashekhar added.