On Monday, 3rd February, the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led Rajasthan Government tabled the ‘Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill 2025’ during the budget session in the state assembly. The bill tabled today mandates that any person willing to convert one religion into another must apply to the district magistrate at least 60 days in advance. The magistrate will then assess whether the conversion is forced or voluntary. If the authorities find that no coercion is applied during the religious conversion, the change of religion might be approved.
The bill in the state assembly was presented by Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar. As per the bill, any person who is found guilty of practising forceful religious conversion shall be punished with a jail term of 2 to 10 years. Also, a monetary fine of Rs 25,000 will be imposed upon the guilty forcefully trying to convert women, minors, and those from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In the case of large-scale conversion, a fine of Rs 50,000 and imprisonment of 3 to 10 years will be imposed.
Rajasthan Minister KK Vishnoi commented on the bill and said that the bill was introduced against Love Jihad so that the cajoling of innocent girls could be stopped. He indicated that any marriage practised to convert the religion of the other person deceitfully shall be considered invalid. He said that the strict provisions against love jihad have been included in the bill.
#WATCH | Jaipur, Rajasthan | On anti-conversion bill, Rajasthan Minister K.K. Vishnoi says, "… This bill is being introduced against Love Jihad so that cajoling of innocent girls can be stopped…" pic.twitter.com/cwD51ghADd
— ANI (@ANI) February 3, 2025
Bill approved in November 2024
Notably, in November last year, the cabinet approved the draft of the bill aiming to curb the forceful religious conversion. At that time, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Bhajan Lal Sharma had noted that the state would take stringent steps to stop illegal conversion.
“Rajasthan government committed to stop illegal conversion. In the cabinet meeting held in the Chief Minister’s Office today, it was decided to introduce ‘The Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill-2024’ in the Assembly to stop attempts of conversion by inducement or fraud. The proposed bill will prohibit any person or institution from converting a person’s religion through misleading information, fraud, use of force, or undue influence. If a person marries for illegal conversion, the family court will have the right to declare such marriage invalid,” he posted on X.
अवैध धर्मांतरण को रोकने हेतु प्रतिबद्ध राजस्थान सरकार।
— Bhajanlal Sharma (@BhajanlalBjp) November 30, 2024
आज मुख्यमंत्री कार्यालय में आयोजित मंत्रिमंडल की बैठक में प्रलोभन अथवा कपटपूर्वक धर्मान्तरण के प्रयासों को रोकने के लिए 'द राजस्थान प्रोहिबिशन ऑफ अनलॉफुल कन्वर्जन ऑफ रिलीजन बिल-2024' विधानसभा में लाने का निर्णय किया गया।…
Opposition opposes the bill
Meanwhile, Congress opposed the bill saying that the ruling government was showing off by tabling the bill that was already tabled during the Congress rule. “Anti-conversion bill was already present and previous Congress government had already responded upon this. Now this bill is being brought as a show.. Those who came into power saying ‘Rajasthan won’t tolerate women’s insult’ don’t talk about this very topic,” Congress leader Rafeek Khan said.
#WATCH | Jaipur, Rajasthan | On anti-conversion bill, Chief Whip of Congress Legislative Party, Rafeek Khan says, "… Anti-conversion bill was already present and previous Congress government had already responded upon this. Now this bill is being brought as a show off… Those… pic.twitter.com/VpMSivjbAg
— ANI (@ANI) February 3, 2025
Leader of the Opposition Tikaram Julie also stated that the bill presented by the BJP government should be studied. Questioning the provisions and rationale of the bill, he suggested that if the government believes that any organization, group, or individual is forcibly converting people, action should be taken against them. He also said that the government was furthering propaganda in the guise of introducing the bill.
What does the bill say
As per the bill, anyone found guilty of illegal or forceful religious conversion shall be jailed for a period of up to 10 years. The guilty persons found practising conversion of minors, women, or people from Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) will also be imposed with a fine of Rs 25000.
The imprisonment could extend between three to 10 years and a ₹50,000 fine in case of large-scale conversions, the bill tabled today reads. Apart from this, the victims of forceful religious conversion will be provided with a compensation of Rs 5 lakh.
The bill also has strict measures undertaken to curb the incidents of love jihad. As per the bill, any marriage performed to forcefully convert the woman to another religion will be cancelled.
In addition to this, anyone who wishes to convert one religion to another shall apply to the district magistrate at least 60 days in advance. A notice of 30 days will also have to be given for any ceremony for the conversion. Further, post-conversion, the concerned individual must inform the district magistrate within the next 60 days.
Past incidents of forceful religious conversion from Rajasthan
The state of Rajasthan has seen several dreadful incidents of forceful religious conversion in which the accused individuals use deceit or coercive practices to force the victims to convert their religion to another. The BJP government seems to have taken steps to stop this.
In February 2024, the Rajasthan government suspended two teachers from a government school in the Kota district for their alleged involvement in religious conversion and ties to banned terror outfits. The suspension orders of the teachers identified as Mirza Mujahid and Firoz Khan, posted at a school in Kota’s Sangod block, were issued after the Sarva Hindu Samaj, Sangod, sent a memorandum to the Education Minister, alleging that activities of religious conversion and love jihad have been going on in the school since 2019.
In March 2024, the accused person identified as Imran abducted a Hindu girl from the Mandrella police station area of Jhunjhunu and took her to Haryana’s Hisar. Imran posed as a Hindu and befriended the girl, harassing her to send nudes, raping her, and forcing her to convert her religion to Islam.
In May 2024, the Rajasthan police arrested a man named Salman Khan for raping a 25-year-old Hindu woman under the pretext of love. Khan, who operated a mobile repair shop in Jaipur, pretended to be a Hindu to entrap the victim in his love trap. As per reports, he raped the 25-year-old woman, shot obscene videos, and then blackmailed the victim into soliciting 2-4 lakhs of rupees.
As per the reports, the Rajasthan government had sought to pass an anti-conversion bill in 2006 during the rule of Vasundhara Raje. However, the bill failed to become law due to a lack of assent from the then-state governor and the president. The Rajasthan High Court then in the year 2017 issued guidelines allowing scrutiny to check aspects of forcible conversions for marriage, if any.
Notably, the earlier bill required the approval of the district collectors before conversion and announced 5 years of maximum punishment for those found guilty of forcefully converting minors, women, and sc/st persons. The previous bill also stated that the registration of any organization found to be guilty of abetting conversions would be cancelled.
The state of Rajasthan is the latest BJP-ruled state that has undertaken measures to stop forceful religious conversion. Earlier to this, several states like Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, etc have passed anti-conversion laws to curb the forceful religious conversion.
