[ Vijay Taram ]
The Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA), 1978 was conceived by late MLA Oken Lego, who aimed to address the constitutional provisions related to religious freedom in India. Specifically, the idea stemmed from Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of religion, albeit, without explicitly granting rights to conversion.
Oken Lego, being a converted Christian himself, sought to facilitate the legal right for individuals to convert to Christianity, thus promoting his agenda for broader conversions within Arunachal Pradesh. The Act was passed in the state Assembly in 1978 with the intention of formalising and protecting the conversion process for indigenous people.
However, despite its passage, subsequent governments did not frame the necessary rules and regulations to implement the Act, leaving it largely ineffective and unutilised.
Interestingly, the idea of legal conversion, initially intended to promote Christianity, has encountered opposition even from within the Christian community now. Many Christian organisations, led by the Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF), have raised concerns regarding the implications of legalising conversion, fearing it could lead to increased scrutiny and backlash against religious conversion practices, potentially undermining the very freedoms the Act aims to secure.
This situation has led to a complex and often contradictory discourse around the Act, where the original intent of enabling religious conversions is now met with reservations, illustrating the nuanced relationship between law, religion, and societal values in Arunachal. (Taram is Information Commissioner, Arunachal Pradesh Information Commission.)