 bill no 157 of  2015 the religious institutions (prevention of misuse) amendment bill, 2015 by shri dushyant chautala, mp a billto amend the religious institutions (prevention of misuse) act, 1988 be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of  india as follows:— 1 (1) this act may be called the religious institutions (prevention of misuse)amendment act, 2015short title and commencement41 of 1988amendment of section 22 in section 2 of the religious institutions (prevention of misuse) act, 1988(hereinafter referred to as the principal act), after clause (f), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—5"(g) 'spiritual leader' means a person, who preaches, promotes or propagates any religion, faith or belief or chants the prayers or performs religious duties or ceremonies at religious place"amendment of section 33 in section 3 of the principal act, after the word "manager" the words, "manager or spiritual leader" shall be substituted4 after section 3 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—10insertion ofnew section3a"3a no religious institution or manager or spiritual leader thereof shall issueany direction or appeal to any person or group of persons to vote or refrain from voting in any election in favour of any political party or any individual contesting that election"5 for section 7 of the principal act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:—substitution of new sectionfor section 7 penalties15 20"7 where any religious institution or manager or spiritual leader thereof contravenes the provisions of section 3, section  3a, section 4, section 5 or section 6, the manager, the spiritual leader and every person connected with such contravention shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and with fine, which shall not be less than rupees one lakh but may extend upto ten lakh rupees"amendment of section 86 in section 8 of the principal act, in sub-section (1), (2) and (3), for the word"manager", wherever it occurs, the word, "manager or spiritual leader" shall be substituted25"(2a) when any spiritual leader of a religious institution is accused of an offence under this act and a charge-sheet for prosecution of such person is filed in any court and the court is of the opinion, after considering the charge-sheet and after hearing the prosecution and the accused, that a prima facie case exists, it shall pass an order or direction restraining such person from any function of such religious institution in all respect, pending trial" statement of objects and reasonsit is proposed to amend the religious institutions (prevention of misuse) act, 1988with a view to restraining such institutions to act at the behest of political parties; preventing criminalization of religious institutions and preventing religious institutions to affect the mandate in elections particularly by issuing directions to its followers to cast or not to cast vote in favour of a particular political party or person it is also proposed to enhance the punishment for ensuring that the religious institutions do not indulge into criminal or political activitieshence this billnew delhi;dushyant chautalaapril 16, 2015 annexure extract from the religious institutions  (prevention of misuse) act, 1988 (41 of 1988)|     |     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|------|-----|definitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—| (   | a   | )     |     |     |     |     |    ||-----|-----|--------|------|------|------|------|-----|| (   | b   | )     |     |     |     |     |    || (   | c   | )     |     |     |     |     |    || (   | d   | )     |     |     |     |     |    || (   | e   | )     |     |     |     |     |    |(f) "religious institution" means an institution for the promotion of any religion or persuasion, and includes any place or premises used as a place of public religious worship, by whatever name or designation known|     |     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|------|-----|3 no religious institution or manager thereof shall use or allow the use of any premises belonging to, or under the control of, the institution—(a) for the promotion or propagation of any political activityprohibition of use of religious institutions for certain purposes|     |     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|------|-----|penalties7 where any religious institution or manager thereof contravenes the provisions of section 3, section 4, section 5 or section 6, the manager and every person connected with such contravention shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees|     |     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|------|-----|disqualification of persons convicted or chargesheeted under this act8 (1) any manager or other employee of a religious institution shall, upon conviction for an offence under this act, stand removed from his office or post and shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law, be disqualified for appointment in any religious institution as manager or in any other capacity for a period of six years from the date of his conviction(2) where any manager or other employee of a religious institution is accused of an offence under this act and a charge-sheet for the prosecution of such person is filed in any court and the court is of the opinion, after considering the charge-sheet and after hearing the prosecution and the accused, that a  prima facie case exists, it shall pass an order or direction restraining the person from exercising the powers or discharging the duties of his office or post pending trial(3) where any manager or other employee has been removed under sub-section (1), or restrained under sub-section (2), the vacancy arising out of such removal or restraint may be filled in the manner provided in the law applicable to the said religious institution     ——— a billto amend the religious institutions (prevention of misuse) act, 1988————(shri dushyant chautala, mp)gmgipmrnd—1269ls(s3)—14072015