Raipur, March 19: The Chhattisgarh assembly on Thursday passed a bill aimed at preventing religious conversions carried out through force, inducement, fraud or misrepresentation, with stringent provisions including life imprisonment in cases of “mass conversion”.
The Chhattisgarh Dharm Swatantraya Vidheyak 2026 (Freedom of Religion Bill 2026), tabled in the House by Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma, was passed following five hours of discussion amid a boycott by Congress legislators after their demand to refer the bill to a Select Committee for consultation before its introduction was rejected by the chair.
The Bill seeks to replace Chhattisgarh Dharm Swatantraya Adhiniyam (Freedom of Religion Act) 1968 adopted from Madhya Pradesh when the state was carved out in 2000.
All offences will be cognisable and non-bailable. The Bill, however, states that reconversion to one’s ancestral religion will not be treated as conversion under the law.
It also prohibits any person from promoting or conspiring to convert another person through illegal means, whether physically or digitally, and bars actions that put a person’s life or property at risk for the purpose of conversion or involve trafficking of minors or women for such purposes.
The proposed law mandates that individuals intending to convert must submit a declaration to the competent authority, and religious functionaries conducting the conversion must also provide prior intimation. ‘Competent Authority’, as per the Bill, means district magistrate or any specially authorised officer not below the rank of an additional DM.
Within 7 days of receiving the complete form in the prescribed format, the competent authority shall publish the details of the proposed religious conversion on its official website as well as at offices of the tehsildar, gram panchayat, and local police station.
Conversion certificates issued under the law will not serve as proof of citizenship or identity, and applications will lapse if conversion is not carried out within 90 days of approval.
The Bill further provides that conversion solely for the purpose of marriage, or marriage done for conversion, will be treated as invalid unless due legal procedures are followed, and marriage alone will not be deemed sufficient for religious conversion. (PTI)
