New Delhi: The Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2025 has stringent clauses and severe penalties including life imprisonment and bulldozer action to check forced and fraudulent religious conversion.
According to the Bill passed Tuesday in the Rajasthan Assembly, a copy of which is with ThePrint, reconverting to ancestral religion is not included in the definition of religious conversion.
“If any person re-converts to original religion i.e. ancestral religion, the same shall not be deemed to be a conversion under this Act. Explanation.- For the purpose of this sub-section original religion i.e. ancestral religion means the religion in which forefathers/ancestors of the person had faith, belief or was practiced by forefathers/ancestors of the person voluntarily and freely,” it said.
Marriages done for the sole purpose of “unlawful conversion or vice-versa” will be declared null and void, the Bill reads, adding that the “burden of proof’ lies on the accused.
“Whether a religious conversion was not effected through misrepresentation, misinformation, force, undue influence, coercion, propaganda, convincing, provocation, allurement, online solicitation or by any fraudulent means or by marriage, or pretext of marriage lies on the person who has caused the conversion and on the abettor who aids or abets such conversion,” it says.
The Bill takes note of attempts at conversion through digital means and addresses them. “To provide for prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, misinformation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement, online solicitation or by any fraudulent means or by marriage or pretext of marriage and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto,” it reads.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates including the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) have been highlighting the issue of conversion in Rajasthan as well as cases of ‘love jihad’. In July, VHP central president Alok Kumar had met Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma to demand an “anti-conversion law”.
With the Bill getting passed, Rajasthan has joined the list of states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, among others which already have anti-conversion laws in place. The opposition Congress has been critical of the anti-conversion Bill and did not participate in the debate in the Rajasthan assembly.
The new Bill has more strict penalties compared to the previous Bill, which was introduced in the previous session but withdrawn earlier this year.
For instance, reconverting to one’s ancestral religion was not part of the previous version of the Bill. Also, in the Bill passed Tuesday, any information related to conversion or regarding any complaint could only be lodged by the aggrieved person or their blood relatives among others, but now it can be done by “any person”.
At the same time, it included that whoever receives money from any foreign or illegal institutions in connection with unlawful religious conversion can be punished with rigorous punishment for a term not less than 10 years which may extend to 20 years and a fine of Rs 20 lakh.
“The Rajasthan Assembly today has done the work of giving a stringent law to put an end to incidents of religious conversion in the state..,” Minister of State for Home Jawahar Singh Bedham told the media.
Harsher penalties
Penalties are harsher for forced religious conversion and that includes life imprisonment in some cases. Bulldozer action can be initiated on the buildings of institutions that are involved in religious conversions, according to the Bill. However, this will be done on properties used for mass conversion or are found guilty of encroachment.
“Demolition of illegal construction.- If there is/are any illegal/ unauthorized construction(s)/ structure on such property or premises where the illegal exercise of conversion or mass conversion has taken place, shall be liable to be demolished after upholding the inquiry by any gazetted officer appointed by the District Magistrate or the State Government,” the Bill reads.
Similarly, a property used for unlawful conversions will be forfeited after an inquiry, irrespective of whether the acts were done with or without the owner’s consent. “The property includes property which belongs to the person convicted under this Act or belongs to the others but used for unlawful conversion by the person convicted with or without consent of the owner of used property,” the Bill says.
Those found guilty of conducting unlawful religious conversion can be “punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 7 years but which may extend to 14 years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than Rs 5 lakh.”
Imprisonment can be at least 10 years and extend up to 20 years if such cases involve a minor, a person with disability, a woman and a person belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes. Fines will be a minimum of Rs 10 lakh.
In case of mass religious conversions, the punishment will be “rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural life, and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than Rs 25 lakh.”
Significantly, the anti-conversion Bill provides “protection of action taken in good faith”. “No suit, prosecution, or other legal proceedings shall lie against any authority or officer or complainant for anything done in good faith or intended to be done, or purported to be done, or omitted to be done in pursuance of this Act, or any rule or order made thereunder,” it said.
Unlike the previous version, the new Bill defines institutions as including “all legal entities, educational institutions, orphanages, old age homes, hospitals, religious missionaries, non-governmental organisations and such other organisations of public character”.
The term “propaganda” is included in the latest version of the Bill. “The systematic dissemination of information, ideas, or beliefs, including misinformation, through any medium (printed material, print media, social media, messaging applications, or any other digital mode), with the intent to cause or facilitate unlawful conversion by misrepresentation, force,” it says.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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