The existing laws relating to offences against the religion are in the Muluki Ain, 2020. Prior to promulgation of the Interim Constitution, Nepal was identified as a Hindu Kingdom. There are certainly important biases in favour of the Hindus. Hinduism dominated all aspects of life including legal sphere.
The expression ‘religious places’ is a very wide term. It does not mean the religious places of the Hindu people only. Affording protection to all the religious places is not possible for the State in its present capacity. However, protection could be afforded to important religious places and respect should be given to all cultural heritage sites. Any act or omission which prevents a person from performing his/her religious practices should also be criminalized.
The provisions of the present draft needs some improvement as usage of language should be as such which can be easily understandable by the general people. Further, the provisions of some chapters of the Penal Code contradict with each other and in some cases there are unnecessary repetitions of provisions.
The cases of offences against religion are hard to prove due to various complications especially forceful conversion of religion. The term ‘forceful conversion’ is hard to prove. There are various methods of coercing a person to convert into another religion without physical force. The punishment stipulated in the draft Bill bears no correlation with the offence. The Bill aims at punishing the forceful converter of religion and not the ones who have been victimized by them.
The provision of strict punishment for those who take advantage of the helpless women and children is important. They require great care and protection. The responsibility is on the State to protect them from being tools in the war of religious propaganda.
