Today's Economic Times reports that the Governor of the Indian state of Gujarat has refused to sign amendments to the state's 2003 Freedom of Religion Act, returning the bill passed last September to the State Legislative Assembly. The law is supposed to prevent religious conversion by force, allurement or fraud. However, the 2006 amendments eliminate protection for a person renouncing one denomination and adopting another denomination of the same religion. The amendments, by defining Jains and Buddhists as members of the Hindu religion, withdraws protection from Jains and Buddhists. Similar problems are posed by the amendment's definition of Shia and Sunni as being Muslim denominations, and Catholics and Protestants as being members of a single Christian faith. In returning the bill for reconsideration, Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma said that it violates Article 25 of India's the Constitution that protects freedom of religion. (The Hindu.)
UPDATE: Faced with the Governor's rejection, Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra Modi said the government would implement the 2003 Act that had been approved by the governor but never put into effect. (Times of India, Aug. 2.)
