Only Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs are Scheduled Castes, CM Fadnavis said- SC caste certificates obtained by conversion will be cancelled.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that if a person of any religion other than Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh has obtained Scheduled Caste certificate by fraud, then it will be cancelled. If such a person has obtained a government job on this basis, then action will be taken against him.

The election of a person with a fake Scheduled Caste certificate will be cancelled.

CM Fadnavis said in the Legislative Council that if a person has won the election using a fraudulently obtained Scheduled Caste certificate, then his election will also be cancelled. Responding to an attention motion, he also said that the state government wishes to make stringent provisions to deal with cases of conversion through force and fraud.

Maharashtra government in favour of strict anti-conversion law: Fadnavis

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that the Maharashtra government is in favour of bringing a strict anti-conversion law to curb conversions done by force, fraud or coercion. He was responding to a discussion in the Legislative Council on Thursday on questions raised by BJP members Chitra Wagh, Praveen Darekar and others on such cases.

Cases of forced conversion have come to light in shelter homes - Wagh.

Wagh told the House that cases of forced conversion have come to light in shelter homes in Sangli and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. He also raised the case of Rutuja Patil in Sangli, who was forced to convert. Wagh asked what the government is doing in such cases. He said that an educated girl from a well-off family died during the seventh month of pregnancy.

Praveen Darekar also said that poor people in the slums of Mumbai are forced to convert. Responding to this, the Chief Minister said that incidents of forced or coercive conversion are increasing in the state. Members have expressed concern over this.

The law does not allow such conversion. Therefore, we had constituted a committee headed by the Director General of Police to study such incidents and make suggestions. The committee has submitted its suggestions. The report has been received recently.

We will make strict amendments in the law - BJP.

After studying the recommendations, we will make strict amendments in the law to make conversion by force, fraud or coercion impossible. BJP's Uma Khapre raised the issue of conversion at Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission orphanage in Kedgaon, Pune district. A case was registered on December 8, 2023 on the basis of complaints of conversion, physical abuse and other irregularities in the orphanage.