Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot on Tuesday gave his consent to ordinance on an anti-conversion bill passed in the Karnataka Assembly.
‘The Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill’ was tabled and passed by the BJP-led government in the southern state in December last year.
With this, the ordinance, which contained all the elements of the bill, will now come into effect, and likely to remain effective until the government passed the bill in the Legislative Council, during the next legislature session.
Last week, the Basavaraj Bommai-led government had decided to promulgate the ordinance to give effect to the contentious law against religious conversions.
Earlier in the day, home minister Araga Jnanendra said the proposed law was not aimed against any religion, but religious conversion by force or through inducement would have no place under the new legislation.
He said this while speaking about the government’s commitment to strict implementation of the proposed law.