Tuesday, September 19 2006 17:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Gandhinagar: Amid vociferous protests from the opposition Congress, a bill to amend Gujarat's Anti-Conversion Act was today passed in the state Legislative Assembly here by a voice vote.

The Anti-Conversion Act was originally passed in 2003 by the state Assembly, but was not implemented so far in the state as the government could not frame rules.

The anti-conversion act passed earlier did not have clarity on what forced conversion means and to whom should it apply, state government officials said adding that The Gujarat Freedom of Religion (amendment) Bill 2006 was brought today to have clarity on the Act.

Under the amendment Bill, a person need not seek permission to convert in case of conversion from one sect to another of the same religion.

The amendement says, "To convert means to make one person renounce one religion and adopt another; but does not include one who renounces one denomination and adopt another denomination of the same religion".

"This implies that there would be no government intervention in case of conversion from Shia to Sunni or Protestant to Catholic," he said.

More significantly, the same yardsticks will apply to conversions between faiths of Hindusim, Buddhism and Jainsim as the government considers these religions as a whole.

The opposition protested over amendement bill considering Buddhism and Jainsim as part of Hinduism.