Mumbai, March 13: The Devendra Fadnavis government on Friday introduced a bill called ‘Maharashtra Religious Freedom Act 2026’ in the Maharashtra Assembly. The purpose of this bill is to stop illegal religious conversions.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Pankaj Bhoyar, who introduced the bill in the Assembly, said, “The bill aims to protect the right to freedom of religion. It also aims to prohibit illegal conversions carried out through force, fraud, inducement, or marriage.” The bill defines illegal conversions as conversions carried out through force, fraud, misinformation, coercion, undue influence, or inducement.
According to the bill, no person or organization can attempt to convert another person from a non-Hindu religion to another religion by offering gifts, cash, a job, free education, promises of marriage, a better lifestyle, or promises of God, which are considered inducements. Allurement, coercion, fraud or misinformation, force or threats, fraudulent means, and undue influence will be illegal. The bill defines any act of forcibly forcing a person or group to convert against their will as illegal conversion.
The bill also prohibits the conversion of relatives or close associates of those involved in the conversion process to a non-Hindu religion. It allows family members to file a complaint alleging illegal religious conversion, which could trigger a police investigation. Offenses under the law will be non-bailable, allowing the police to register cases and initiate investigations into allegations of forced religious conversion.
The bill mandates the in-charge of a police station to register any complaint. Section 14 of the bill provides for the banning and punishment of organizations that incite conversion to non-Hindu religions.
Based on similar laws in other states, the bill requires those wishing to convert to non-Hindu religions to obtain prior permission from a designated government authority, provide prior notice 60 days before the conversion, and register the conversion.
According to the draft provisions of the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act, 2026, any religious conversion may be invalid if the conversion is not registered or if the procedures are not followed.
According to the bill, illegal conversions under the pretext of marriage are prohibited. Those found involved in religious conversion will also face seven years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh. Attempting to incite a minor, a lunatic person or a woman or a person belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe to convert their religion can result in seven years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.
According to the bill, those inciting religious conversion on a large scale will be punished with seven years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh, while those doing so repeatedly will be punished with 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.
According to the bill, those found guilty of forced religious conversion will be punished with up to 7 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh.
Fadnavis’s Mahayuti government says such a law against religious conversion is necessary to protect vulnerable majority Hindus from predatory religious conversion rackets perpetrated by minorities. The Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill, 2026, is modeled on similar anti-conversion laws in other states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat. Photo: Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan