Dehradun (Uttarakhand) : Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami along with his wife Geeta Dhami watched the film 'The Kerala Story' in Dehradun here. Cabinet ministers Premchand Agarwal, Ganesh Joshi and all BJP officials were also present with him. After watching the film, CM Dhami said that The Kerala Story is such a film that it has shown how terrorism is being spread in the country without bullets and bombs.
CM Dhami said that it has also been shown in this film, how girls are brainwashed and converted to religion. He further said that this film is going to make people aware of the reality relating to religious conversion and terrorism. In such a situation, everyone should watch this film, he said and added that in Uttarakhand too, religious conversions were taking place in many places in various ways.
The Chief Minister called it a serious matter having repercussions for the future of the state and, because of this, the government has decided to put a complete stop to religious conversions in Uttarakhand. Under this, a strict law has been made against conversions and a harsh punishment of up to 10 years will be given for any such inducement or activity, he said.
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On the extent of punishments, CM Dhami said that a single conversion would be treated as a lesser offence while a provision has been made for harsher punishment for mass conversions. If the case of mass conversion comes to the fore and if proven guilty, there is a provision of imprisonment of 3 to 10 years as well as a fine of up to Rs 50,000, he said.
The CM pointed out that apart from this, a provision has been made for a fine of 25 thousand rupees along with a punishment of 2 to 7 years for the conversion of a person. He said that in order to preserve the culture of Uttarakhand and the original nature of the state, it is necessary that religious conversions should be completely curbed in the state.
CM Dhami also said that along with curbing conversions in the state, work is being done to curb encroachment on government land in Uttarakhand. For this, action is being taken to identify and remove the places where there has been encroachment on government land. So that illegal encroachment in the state can be completely eliminated. Not only this, illegal encroachment on government properties will not be tolerated in any form. The strictest action will be taken against those who do this, he said.
