Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav has said that the death penalty could be imposed for religious conversion in the state. During a Women's Day program in Bhopal on March 8, Yadav said that the government is making provisions for the death penalty in the Religious Freedom Act applicable in Madhya Pradesh.
Currently, the law provides for a maximum punishment of ten years. Legal experts have varied opinions on the Chief Minister's statement. Some believe that it will be challenging for the government to pursue this decision, while others suggest that the government could amend the law to include the death penalty. The Religious Freedom Act was implemented in Madhya Pradesh in 2021.
At present, no state in India imposes the death penalty for cases of conversion. Anti-conversion laws exist in 11 states, including Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.
Under the conversion law in Madhya Pradesh, more than 200 cases have reportedly been registered in the last four years. While discussing women's safety, CM Mohan Yadav did not clearly outline how this proposed provision would be implemented.
Different opinions of legal experts
Some experts suggest that the concurrent list in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution grants both the Center and the State the authority to enact laws. Various states have implemented stringent measures, including life imprisonment, and the Madhya Pradesh government could potentially amend the law to introduce the death penalty for forced conversion.
Conversely, Congress MP and Supreme Court advocate Vivek Tankha argues that such a move would not be constitutionally or legally feasible. He believes that Chief Minister Dr. Yadav's statement is aimed at appeasing party leaders.
Tankha points out that amending the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) would be necessary, as the BNS serves as the national law. He emphasizes that the opinion of the Attorney General would be required in this matter, noting that the death penalty is reserved for the "rarest of rare" cases. Thus, he questions how it could be applied in instances of religious conversion.
While the Seventh Schedule allows both the Center and the State to legislate, it also specifies that if a central law exists on a topic, state laws on the same subject would not apply.
Experts indicate that for the Madhya Pradesh government to pursue this, an amendment to the Religious Freedom Act would be required. The proposed bill would need to be presented in the Assembly, passed, and then sent to the Central Government for approval.
Prakash Kumar Pandey
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