The Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA), which had been in cold storage for almost 46 years, is back in the reckoning with the state government trying to draft an anti-conversion law following a Gauhati High Court directive. However, even after so many decades, the law continues to face stiff opposition not just from the Christian bodies in Arunachal but also from those in the neighbouring Northeast states.
The APFRA is the first such law in the region to prevent forceful religious conversions. It was passed by the first Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh and received Presidential assent in 1978.
In September 2024, the Itanagar Bench of the Gauhati High Court, while hearing a plea seeking its intervention against the state’s “failure” to implement the Act, directed the government to finalise the draft to implement it within six months. As the deadline is set to end by March-end, the Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF) has ramped up its efforts to get the Act repealed, news agency IANS reported.
ACF began staging a series of demonstrations after Chief Minister Pema Khandu announced in February that the long-dormant APFRA would soon have its rules framed and be implemented in Arunachal.
Following a meeting with Arunachal Pradesh Home and Indigenous Affairs Minister Mama Natung, ACF president Tarh Miri stated that the organisation will hold a rally against the implementation of the Act on March 6. The ACF chief had also said that they are planning to gherao the state Assembly on Thursday, when the Act is expected to be discussed in the house ahead of its implementation, IANS reported.
“The minister conveyed at the meeting that the Act cannot be repealed as it has Presidential assent and the government has been directed by court to implement it. However, he assured us that an inclusive committee would be constituted to oversee the issue. He also requested us to call off the March 6 rally, but we will go ahead with it,” Miri said.
He said that it would be difficult to repeal the Act due to the “numbers in the Assembly”, but added that the government is “trying to implement it due to pressure from external communal forces.”
Amidst the protests against the implementation of the Act, the ruling BJP-led government in Arunachal has maintained that it is not directed at any particular religion, but that has not mitigated the concerns expresse by the Christian bodies.
Minister Natung has issued a statement regarding his meeting with the ACF’s Miri, saying that the state government would hold “consultative meetings with all religious leaders and other stakeholders” over framing of the rules for the Act.
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The Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (AFPRA) prohibits religious conversion “by use of force or inducement or by fraudulent means”. It necessitates a two-year imprisonment or a fine up to Rs 10,000 for the offence of “converting or attempting to convert forcefully from one religious faith to another”.
It also mandates that the Deputy Commissioner be informed about every act of conversion in the particular district concerned, failing which the person conducting the conversion would attract a penalty.
The ACF was formed in 1979 to specifically push for the Act’s repeal, and for nearly five decades, the successive governments ensured the APFRA was kept under covers by not framing the rules for its implementation. However, in 2022, a PIL in the Guahati HC sought the implementation rules, which triggered the Act’s revival, leading to the September 2023 directive to finalise draft rules within six months.
The Act comes amid a rapid surge of Christian population in Arunachal since the establishment of its first church in 1957, triggering debates on threats to “indigenous religions and cultures”.
From 0.79 percent of Arunachal’s population in the 1971 Census, the Christian numbers grew to 30.26 percent in the 2011 Census.
The Indigenous Faiths and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh general secretary Maya Murtem is among those pushing for the implementation of the Act. The Act also seeks to preserve other religious practices followed by various tribes in Arunachal including the Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, Donyi Polo beliefs, nature worship, and other indigenous tribal customs, Indian Express reported .
Echoing the government’s views, Murtem said: “The Act is not against any religion. It applies to us as well. The rules will only be against forceful conversions and allurement. Those who are opposing it are showing that they have the wrong intent. We need it because currently conversions are not being recorded at all and we don’t have any data on it… The law will require each conversion to be reported.”
The Act has also been facing opposition from Christian groups outside Arunachal. The Naga Baptist Church Council, which is the apex body of Baptist churches in Nagaland, expressed “deep concern” over the Act’s implementation in an open letter to CM Khandu last month.
“The real intention of the APFRA was not to preserve traditional religion but to suppress a particular religious group of those days… On the ground that the Act is unconstitutional, your people and the region stood to oppose the Bill… Looking at the present situation in the country, a lot has changed, and we know very well what will happen to your people, especially those of the Christian community in your state. We do not need to mention how the law (anti-conversion laws) is misused to unnecessarily persecute Christians in other parts of the country. Our common sense tells us that the same will happen to your peace-loving people, and this will spill over to the whole region,” the letter written by Naga Baptist Church Council general secretary Rev Zelhou Keyho noted, Indian Express reported.
Besides Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, Manipur also has a significant Christian population. Assam Christian Forum spokesperson Allen Brooks said that “apprehensions are high” across the region due to the development regarding the Act’s implementation.
Brooks said the assurances were “not soothing” and alleged Christian worshippers were “being beaten up” in the name of these laws. “Actions do not match the words… In Assam too, when the law against ‘magical healing’ was introduced, the CM said it would stop evangelism and made it clear that it was targeted at Christians,” he said.
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What Is Arunachal’s ‘Anti-Conversion Law’? 46-Year-Old Act That Was Never Implemented – ABP Live English
