Jaipur: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan on Monday (February 3) tabled The Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2025, in the state Assembly, with all offences under the various provisions of the Bill being cognisable and non-bailable.
According to Section 13 of the Bill termed “Protection of action taken in good faith,” it provides authorities protection from prosecution or any other legal proceedings for anything that is done in pursuance of the proposed law.
“No suit, prosecution, or other legal proceedings shall lie against any authority or officer 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,” says the copy of the Bill that has been uploaded in the website of the Rajasthan Assembly.
In recent years, several instances have come up wherein people from marginalised communities have been falsely charged for converting people and were later acquitted by courts.
By giving protection to government officers against possible legal proceedings, the Bill does little to prevent cases wherein innocent people are harassed after being wrongly framed for illegal conversion.
Punishments range from imprisonment of one to 10 years
The punishments for the offences listed in the Bill range from imprisonment of one to 10 years along with monetary fines. The maximum punishment is reserved for those who commit the offences in respect of a minor, a woman or a person belonging to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community.
In its list of offences, the Bill also includes “conversion by solemnisation of marriage or relationship in the nature of marriage.”
“Any marriage done for sole purpose of unlawful conversion or vice-versa by the man of one religion with the woman of another religion, either by converting himself/herself before or after marriage, or by converting the woman before or after marriage, shall be declared void by the Family Court or where Family Court is not established, the Court having jurisdiction to try such case on a petition presented by either party…,” says the Bill.
According to the Bill, any aggrieved person, his/her parents, brother, sister, or any other person who is related to him/her by blood, marriage or adoption can lodge a FIR for the offences mentioned in the proposed law.
The Bill, makes it mandatory for the person who wants to convert to another religion to give an advance declaration of sixty days to the district magistrate while the one who will perform the conversion ceremony will have to give a one month’s notice.
The district magistrate, shall get an enquiry conducted through police with regard to real intention, purpose and cause of the proposed religious conversion. A similar declaration is to be furnished within sixty days of the conversion.
Copy of conversion declaration with personal details to be displayed on notice board
According to the Bill, following conversion, the converted person shall send a declaration in a prescribed format within sixty days of the date of conversion, to the district magistrate of the district in which the converted person resides ordinarily.
“The district magistrate shall display a copy of the declaration on the notice board of the office till the date of confirmation. The said declaration shall contain the requisite details, i.e. the particulars of the convert such as date of birth, permanent address, and the present place of residence, father’s/husband’s name, the religion to which the convert originally belonged and the religion to which he/she has converted, the date and place of conversion and nature of process gone through for conversion,” says the Bill.
The Bill adds that if any objections are notified, the district magistrate may simply record them, i.e., the name and particulars of objectors and the nature of objection.
The various provisions of the Bill make the process of voluntary conversions quite complex, with the Bill remaining silent about possible instances of harassment of a person who voluntarily converts by vigilante groups who could find the personal details of the person on the notice board.
“The burden of proof as to whether a religious conversion was not effected through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage, lies on the person who has caused the conversion and, where such conversion has been facilitated by any person, on such other person,” says section 12 of the Bill.
‘Gullible persons have been converted from one religion to another’
The statement of reason for the Bill states that while the constitution confers on each individual the fundamental right to profess, practise and propagate his religion, the individual right to freedom of conscience and religion cannot be extended to construe a collective right to proselytise; the right to religious freedom belongs equally to the person converting and the individual sought to be converted.
“However, in the recent past many such examples have come to light where gullible persons have been converted from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by fraudulent means. The law related to right to religious freedom already exists in various States of the country but there was no statute on the said subject in Rajasthan,” says the statement of reason.
“In view of the above, it was decided to enact a law to provide for prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or fraudulent means or by marriage and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto,” adds the statement of reason.
Also Read: A Birthday Party, a Legal Battle and an Acquittal: The Story of a False Conversion Case
At present, chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma holds the home portfolio and is also the minister in-charge for the Bill, which is expected to be passed soon.
Prior to the Sharma-led BJP government tabling the Bill in the state Assembly in the budget session, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje too had introduced similar anti-conversion Bills in 2006 and 2008 but either assent was not given by the then governors or the Bills were returned by the Centre.
Other BJP-ruled state governments such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand already have similar legislations.