JAIPUR — On Tuesday, the Rajasthan Assembly passed the “Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Bill, 2025” by a voice vote, even though members of the opposition Congress party protested. The state government justified the new law, which has some of the strictest rules in the country against forced and fraudulent conversions, as a necessary step to keep peace in society.
Jawahar Singh Bedham, the Minister of State for Home, said that Article 25 of the Constitution protects freedom of religion, but it does not support conversion through lies, threats, or fraud. He said that the measure is very important for making sure the state has a safe future and for protecting groups of people who are commonly targeted for conversion, such as women, children, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes.
The new bill is a tougher version of a previous law that was passed in 2008. It lists a lot of different punishments:
Fraudulent Conversion: If you convert someone by dishonest means, you could go to jail for 7 to 14 years and pay a fine of up to ₹5 lakh.
Targeting Weak Groups: Converting juveniles, women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and people with disabilities through lies will bring you 10 to 20 years in prison and a fine of at least ₹10 lakh.
Mass conversions: If someone uses dishonest ways to get people to convert in large numbers, they could go to jail for 20 years to life and pay a fine of at least ₹25 lakh.
Foreign Funding: If you get money from outside the country or illegally for conversion operations, you could go to jail for 10 to 20 years and pay a fine of at least ₹20 lakh.
The bill also says that properties used for forced conversion can be taken away, and family or competent courts can annul any marriage that was done for the purpose of illegal conversion. It also says that people must tell the district magistrate ahead of time before they change their religion on their own.
Bedham used constitutional provisions and Supreme Court decisions to say that forced conversion is against the law and a threat to “social harmony and national identity.” He further said that Rajasthan’s new law is in line with similar regulations in other Indian states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh, that are likewise against conversion.
The bill’s passage is a big step forward for the Bhajanlal Sharma-led government, which had said before that it wanted to make the law stricter to stop what it calls “unlawful conversions.” The Assembly was put on hold until Wednesday after the bill passed.