The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan tabled a comprehensive anti-conversion bill on Monday, introducing severe penalties including up to 10 years’ imprisonment for what it terms “unlawful religious conversions.” The Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2025, marks the state’s latest attempt to regulate religious conversions, making all offences under the legislation cognisable and non-bailable.
The bill, introduced by Medical and Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khinvsar, establishes a complex framework for religious conversions, requiring individuals seeking to change their faith to navigate an extensive bureaucratic process. Under the new legislation, prospective converts must submit a declaration to the District Magistrate 60 days before their intended conversion, whilst religious officiants must provide a month’s advance notice of conversion ceremonies.
A controversial provision of the bill places the burden of proof on the accused, requiring them to demonstrate that any conversion was not achieved through “misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage.” This represents a significant departure from traditional criminal jurisprudence, where the presumption of innocence typically prevails.
The proposed legislation has drawn particular attention for its severe penalties. Violations can result in imprisonment ranging from one to five years and a minimum fine of ₹15,000. The punishment increases to between two and ten years’ imprisonment, with a minimum fine of ₹25,000, for conversions involving minors, women, or members of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes. Mass conversions could attract even harsher penalties, with prison terms of three to ten years and a minimum fine of ₹50,000.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel defended the legislation, citing concerns about what the BJP terms “love jihad” - a controversial phrase used to describe alleged instances of Muslim men converting Hindu women through marriage. “Love jihad cases have assumed seriousness, causing a great deal of concern for society at large. This legislation is going to curb this practice,” Patel told journalists.
The bill has sparked significant opposition, with the Congress party strongly condemning it. Opposition Leader Tika Ram Jully criticised the legislation as part of “BJP’s propaganda to mislead the people,” suggesting the government should focus on more pressing issues rather than “creating divisions in society.”
A particularly contentious aspect of the bill is Section 13, which grants immunity to authorities from legal proceedings for actions taken “in good faith” under the proposed law. Critics argue this provision could potentially enable harassment of innocent individuals, particularly given recent instances where courts have acquitted people falsely charged with illegal conversion.
Speaking to Christian Today, Rev. Vijayesh Lal, General Secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India expressed his concern: “This bill addresses an unproven problem while creating real ones. The immunity granted to officials, combined with reversed burden of proof, has led to wrongful arrests and harassment in other states. When personal details of converts must be displayed publicly and anyone can file complaints without consequences, it creates a machinery of intimidation. This fundamentally undermines constitutional freedoms.”
The legislation mandates that conversion declarations, including personal details such as the convert’s name, address, and religious affiliation, be displayed on notice boards at district magistrate offices. This requirement has raised concerns about potential harassment by vigilante groups, as the bill remains silent on protections for voluntary converts whose personal information would be publicly displayed.
If passed, Rajasthan would join twelve other Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, in implementing anti-conversion legislation. The bill represents the state’s third attempt at such legislation, following unsuccessful efforts in 2006 and 2008 under former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s administration, also of the BJP.
The bill is expected to pass during the current budget session, given the BJP’s majority in the state assembly, despite concerns raised about its potential impact on religious freedom and minority rights.
