LegislationDMK-AIADMK alternation

Tamil Nadu anti-conversion law

· Chennai

The AIADMK government introduced a law against forcible religious conversion, which was withdrawn after the 2004 Lok Sabha election and formally repealed in 2006.

In October 2002 the Tamil Nadu government promulgated an ordinance, later passed as the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act, 2002. It required conversions to be reported to the authorities and penalised conversion by force, allurement or fraud. Christian and Muslim organisations and opposition parties opposed it as a curb on religious freedom. After the AIADMK alliance lost every Lok Sabha seat in the state in 2004, the government withdrew the law by ordinance, and the DMK government repealed it in 2006.

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