New Delhi: Christian and Muslim organisations on October 7 sharply reacted to Tamil Nadu government's Ordinance banning use of force or inducement in religious conversions in the state even as All India Christian Council (AICC) threatened to challenge the measure in court.

"Forcible or induced conversion is an oxymoron. It is not possible, and is rejected by the church. Conversion is the exercise of free choice by an individual in fulfilment of his or her own spiritual needs. This is a basic human right and is guaranteed in the Indian Constitution and by the United Nations", AICC said in a statement.

Various state governments who have raised the bogey of induced or forcible conversions have failed to find out even a single such case in the past, it said adding that the Council, which was already challenging a similar law in Orissa, was consulting legal experts on the Tamil Nadu Ordinance.

Meanwhile, in Madurai the president of United Minorities Forum and Archbishop of Madurai Diocese M Arockiaswamy, warned that educational institutions run by minorities would be closed down if Tamil Nadu government did not withdraw its Ordinance banning religious conversions.

He told reporters in Madurai that the government Ordinance was "unjust and smacks off a pro-Hindutva ideological bias" contrary to the proclaimed vision of secular front.

He said the Tamil Nadu Bishops' council would also meet in two days time to chalk out a detailed programme of action to oppose the Ordinance.

PTI