Under an amendment to the Freedom of Religion Act passed without discussion in the state legislature on 26 July, the government will require persons changing their religion to report to authorities about it one month before doing so. The law required people changing their religion to report this to the government within one month of making the move.

The law, however, exempts reconversions back to Hinduism from such reporting and the amendments provide for stiff fines and jail term of up to five years for violating the provisions of the law which ban conversions by "force or allurement".

"We are really worried now. This (law) will only make our lives miserable," Indira Iyengar, a Christian activist, told Ecumenical News International from the state capital Bhopal. If government officials had to be informed one month ahead of change of faith, "they (Hindu fundamentalists) will make sure that nobody would dare to do that", she noted.

Christians in the state accounting for 0.3 percent or 170 000 of the state's 60 million people, have in the past reported regular harassment by Hindu fundamentalists who accuse them of seeking conversions, noted Iyengar, the president of the state's Christian Association. "This law is nothing but denial of freedom of religion," said Iyengar who led a Christian delegation to the state governor on 28 July pleading with him to halt approval of the changed legislation.

Under the Indian constitution, bills passed by the state legislatures have to be approved by the state governor, who is appointed by the federal government, before they are promulgated.

A similar anti-conversion bill passed in April by the Rajasthan State, also ruled by the BJP, is still pending with the governor as Christians and others had objected to it as a denial of fundamental freedom of religion.

"There is no doubt that this (amendment) amounts to denial of religious freedom," Roman Catholic priest the Rev. Anand Muttungal, spokesperson of Madhya Pradesh regional Conference of Catholic bishops, told ENI. However, he added that the church would not directly lobby against the legislation as it would lend credence to Hindu fundamentalists' claims that Christians were engaging in dubious conversions.

Christian groups like the All India Christian Council and the Evangelical Fellowship of India have called for mass appeals to urge the state governor to refuse approval of the bill.

ENI