10k rally in Itanagar demanding implementation of APFRA, 1978

Itanagar: More than 10,000 indigenous faith believers took part in a mega rally in Itanagar on Saturday to register their resentment over the prolonged delay by the state govt to frame rules and implementing the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA), 1978.The rally was organised by the Indigenous Faith and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh (IFCSAP).The Gauhati High Court, in its directive to the state govt in Sept 2024, instructed it to frame the rules for the APFRA, 1978, within six months. The stipulated time period expired on March 31, this year. Despite repeated pleas by the IFCSAP, the state govt has not framed the rules.Believers from Tawang to Longding walked from RKM Hospital helipad ground here to Nyokum Lapang ground.

Carrying banners and placards, they urged the state govt to fulfill its constitutional and judicial obligations by immediately framing the rules as directed by the Gauhati High Court. Later at Nyokum Lapang ground here, speakers elaborated on the legal, cultural and other aspects of the Act.IFCSAP president Emi Rumi reaffirmed the movement’s peaceful and constitutional nature, guided by respect for all faiths.

“Our movement is not against any other faith, but for the survival and dignity of our own,” he said. Rumi urged the state govt to honour its past assurances and immediately frame the rules for APFRA, 1978, in accordance with the high court’s directive.Expressing concern that while the Act received the President’s assent quickly, successive govts have offered only ‘lip service’, he said, “Had the Act been implemented years back, the demographic changes we are witnessing today could have been prevented.”The APFRA, 1978, had been passed by the first Assembly of the then Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh and received Presidential assent in 1978. However, it remained in cold storage for 46 years as Christian leaders opposed it. The APFRA, 1978, prohibits religious conversion “by use of force or inducement or by fraudulent means” and entails a two-year imprisonment or a fine up to Rs 10,000 for the offence of “converting or attempting to convert forcefully from one religious faith to another”.