The Chhattisgarh Assembly on Thursday approved a bill tightening penalties for unlawful religious conversions, introducing provisions for life imprisonment and fines that can extend up to Rs 25 lakh.
The proposed law, titled the Freedom of Religion Bill, 2026, will replace an earlier statute enacted in 1968 when the state was part of undivided Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh was carved out as a separate state in 2000.
The Opposition staged a boycott during the proceedings, demanding that the draft legislation be examined in greater detail.
Speaking to reporters after the bill was passed, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said the measure was aimed at curbing conversions “carried out by taking advantage of people’s poverty, and lack of education and knowledge”.
He added that the existing 1968 law had become inadequate in tackling “the use of force, greed and fraudulent practices” linked to religious conversions.
Under the new provisions, conversions carried out through “glorification, misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement” will be prohibited.
Individuals seeking to convert will be required to submit a declaration to the district magistrate or an authorised official. Authorities will then publish details of the proposed conversion within a week on official platforms and at local administrative offices, allowing objections to be filed within a month. An inquiry will follow before any conversion is permitted.
The bill expands the definition of “allurement” to include monetary incentives, gifts, employment offers, free education or medical care, promises of improved living standards and marriage.
It also states that conversions conducted solely for the purpose of marriage, or marriages undertaken to facilitate conversion, will be deemed invalid unless legal procedures are followed. The definition of “coercion” includes psychological pressure, physical force, threats and social boycott.
The legislation provides for the creation of special courts to hear cases and mandates that records of proposed conversions be maintained online.
For mass conversions, the law prescribes a minimum jail term of 10 years, which may extend to life imprisonment, along with fines of Rs 25 lakh or more. In cases involving minors, women, persons with mental illness, or members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, a minimum fine of Rs 10 lakh will apply.
Conversions to one’s “ancestral religion” will not be treated as conversion under the bill.
With the passage of the legislation, Chhattisgarh joins several other states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party that have introduced similar laws in recent years. A comparable bill was recently cleared in Maharashtra, where Opposition parties had raised concerns over potential misuse of such provisions.