India’s Supreme Court on Monday (Nov. 17) issued notice to the Rajasthan government regarding a petition challenging the state’s “anti-conversion” law, which allows officials to demolish homes and seize property based on mere allegations of forcible conversion.
After instructing Rajasthan officials to respond to two other challenges to the law earlier this month, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the state to provide response to the constitutional challenge against the anti-conversion legislation filed by the Jaipur Catholic Welfare Society. Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued the notice to the state and other respondents, directing them to file their replies within four weeks.
The Jaipur Catholic Welfare Society’s legal counsel, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, argued that the challenge raises questions about the legislature’s authority to enact such legislation and whether the statute exceeds constitutional boundaries.
When the justices observed that similar constitutional challenges were already pending before the court, Dhavan maintained that his client’s petition presented distinct legal arguments. The bench agreed to formally notify the respondents and set the case for consideration in four weeks.
The petition has been linked with other pending challenges to anti-conversion legislation. Nath and Mehta had already directed the state government to respond within four weeks to two Public Interest Litigations, one petition filed by advocate and researcher M. Huzaifa and veteran human rights activist John Dayal, and another filed by Dashrath Kumar Hinunia.
Both petitions specifically contest the constitutionality of Sections 5(6), 10(3), 12, and 13 of the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2025, which grants sweeping powers to executive authorities to forfeit and demolish private properties linked to conversion cases without judicial oversight.
The Act was passed by the Rajasthan state assembly on Sept. 9, received the governor’s assent on Oct. 3 and came into force on Oct. 29, just five days before the Supreme Court on Nov. 3 issued notice on the two petitions challenging it.
Dayal told Morning Star News that the law represents executive overreach that bypasses judicial oversight. He warned that the provisions enable officials to demolish homes and seize property based solely on unproven allegations that disproportionately target religious minorities.
“Rajasthan has weaponized the law to legitimize what the Supreme Court called unconstitutional just last year,” Dayal said. “It’s licensed demolition. Bureaucrats now wield bulldozers as instruments of persecution. The court must choose: constitutional governance or administrative tyranny against minorities.”
No Due Process
The challenged provisions mark an unprecedented expansion of state power over religious freedom and property rights within India’s federal system.
Section 5(6) permits the forfeiture of any property where unlawful conversion is merely alleged, following an inquiry conducted by a gazetted officer appointed by the District Magistrate or the State Government. Gazetted officers are mid-level government officials with authority to authenticate documents and perform administrative functions, rather than judicial authorities doing so.
Section 10(3) empowers the state government to permanently cancel registration or licenses of institutions found violating any provision of the Act, confiscate their property, freeze financial accounts and impose penalties of 10 million Indian Rupees ($112,713 USD), effectively barring them from operating in the state.
Section 12 makes properties where forcible conversions or fraudulent mass conversions allegedly take place liable to forfeiture and confiscation by the district magistrate or any person appointed by the state government after holding an inquiry.
Section 13 provides for demolition of illegal or unauthorized structures on such properties following inquiry by any gazetted officer. The section requires only a show cause notice returnable within 15 days or as prescribed by local municipal laws, whichever is later, before demolition proceeds. For structures in public places or where a court has ordered demolition, the Act allows demolition within 72 hours after issuing a show cause notice.
Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for Hinunia during the hearing, described Rajasthan’s legislation as the most egregious among similar anti-conversion laws enacted by various Indian states. He highlighted that fines for forcible mass conversion, defined in the Act as converting more than two people, are mind-boggling and can reach up to 2 million rupees ($22,542 USD), with punishment ranging from a minimum of 20 years to life imprisonment.
Senior Advocate Abhay Mahadeo Thipsay represented the petition filed by Huzaifa and Dayal, which was facilitated by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights.
Constitutional Violations
The petitioners argue these provisions amount to punitive demolitions and collective punishment that violate fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 21, 22, and 300A of India’s Constitution.
Article 14 guarantees equality before law, Article 21 protects life and personal liberty, Article 22 provides procedural safeguards for arrests, and Article 300A protects the right to property.
By empowering administrative officers to carry out demolitions and forfeitures without trial, the petitioners contend the Act enables executive punishment without judicial adjudication, thereby dismantling the doctrine of separation of powers. The petition argues that by allowing district magistrates or gazetted officers to order demolition or forfeiture through summary inquiries, the Act effectively replaces judicial oversight with arbitrary administrative authority.
The petition filed by Huzaifa and Dayal particularly challenges Section 5(6), which permits confiscation of properties of even innocent owners with or without consent. The petitioners term this a shocking institutionalization of collective punishment and vicarious liability.
“What makes this law particularly insidious is how it institutionalizes collective punishment,” Dayal told Morning Star News. “An entire family loses their home based on allegations against one member. Innocent property owners become collateral damage in the state’s crusade against religious minorities. The Supreme Court must recognize this for what it is: systematic dispossession masquerading as legislation.”
The petitioners argue that the Rajasthan law conflicts with the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling in In Re: Directions in the Matter of Demolition of Structures, which held that the executive cannot order demolition or impose punitive measures without due process, notice and judicial oversight. They contend that Sections 5(6), 10(3), 12 and 13 allow property to be seized or demolished on the basis of allegations and an administrative inquiry, seeking to give legislative cover to practices the Supreme Court has already found unconstitutional.
The petitioners warn such measures disproportionately affect minority and marginalized communities, threatening their right to shelter, livelihood and due process.
Broader Legal Battle
The Rajasthan challenge is part of a broader legal battle over anti-conversion laws across India.
In September, another Supreme Court bench sought responses from several states on petitions seeking stays on their respective anti-conversion laws, including those enacted by Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand and Karnataka.
The court made clear it would consider staying the operation of such laws once replies were filed.
In the Nov. 3 hearing on the Rajasthan petitions, the Supreme Court bench questioned the petitioners about why they were aggrieved by the enactment and why the petitions were not filed before the Rajasthan High Court.
Senior Advocate Ahmadi informed the court that similar challenges to anti-conversion laws of several states are pending before the Supreme Court and have been transferred from other courts to it.
The Rev. Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, told Morning Star News that the court’s decision is crucial for religious freedom across India.
“The Evangelical Fellowship of India successfully challenged similar discriminatory provisions in Himachal Pradesh in 2012,” Lal said. “Rajasthan mirrors disturbing patterns in other BJP-governed states like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, where anti-conversion laws embolden vigilante groups to target Christians under the guise of preventing forced conversion. The reconversion exemption legitimizing conversion to Hinduism while criminalizing Christianity exposes the true discriminatory intent. We are hopeful the Supreme Court will uphold constitutional guarantees of equality and religious freedom.”
Wave of Attacks
The legal challenge comes after a wave of violence against Christians erupted in Rajasthan following passage of the anti-conversion bill in September, even before it received the governor’s assent required to become law.
“The September attacks revealed the law’s true purpose,” Dayal said. “Before the governor even signed it, mobs attacked churches, police detained Christians, and properties were raided. The legislation didn’t prevent violence; it unleashed it. Now the state wants legal cover to finish what the vigilantes started.”
Morning Star News documented nine incidents of harassment and assault in September alone, including an attack on the Hindustan Bible Institute in Pratap Nagar, Jaipur on Sept. 23, where about 50 members of the Hindu extremist Bajrang Dal baselessly accused officials of fraudulent conversion, leading to police detention of two institute guests and confiscation of electronic devices and documents.
Civil society groups documented attacks across multiple districts of mob violence at religious gatherings, police harassment, a break-in at a children’s hostel and assault of Christian staff members. This excludes the attack and arrest of Pastor Wazir Singh of Hanumangarh District on Sept. 28. While he was arrested, his wife and sons, ages 14 and 10, fled on a motorbike in the middle of the night to Haryana 80 miles away to escape a planned attack by the villagers.
A source said the court’s intervention offers crucial hope for Rajasthan’s Christian community.
“The situation for Christians in Rajasthan remains tense since September, with churches facing constant surveillance and pastors fearing arrest,” the source told Morning Star News. “The property demolition provisions create a terrifying reality where families could lose their homes on allegations alone. We are hopeful the court will protect our constitutional rights and strike down these discriminatory provisions that target religious minorities.”
Harshest Penalties in India
The Rajasthan legislation prescribes penalties among the most severe in India for alleged religious conversion violations.
The law mandates imprisonment of seven to 14 years and fines up to 500,000 rupees ($5,636 USD) for general conversion cases involving what the state defines as fraudulent means. Enhanced penalties target conversions involving minors, women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and persons with disabilities, carrying prison terms of 10 to 20 years and minimum fines of 1 million Rupees ($11,271 USD). Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are India’s most marginalized communities, historically considered “untouchable” under the Hindu caste system and granted special constitutional protections.
Mass conversions through fraudulent means face punishment of 20 years to life imprisonment with fines of at least 2.5 million rupees ($28,178 USD). The law also criminalizes receiving foreign or illegal funds for conversion activities, punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison and minimum fines of 2 million rupees ($22,543 USD). Repeat offenders face life imprisonment with heavy penalties.
All offenses under the Act are classified as cognizable and non-bailable under Indian law, meaning police can arrest without warrants, and courts rarely grant bail while cases are pending.
One of the law’s most controversial provisions exempts “reconversion” to one’s ancestral religion from all penalties and procedures. Hindu nationalist groups interpret this as legitimizing conversion to Hinduism while criminalizing conversion to Christianity or Islam, creating what critics argue is discriminatory treatment violating India’s constitutional guarantee of equality.
Escalation
The 2025 legislation represents Rajasthan’s third and most severe attempt at regulating religious conversion since India’s independence. The state assembly previously passed anti-conversion bills in 2006 and 2008, but both failed to receive required gubernatorial or presidential assent for implementation.
The 2006 Rajasthan Freedom of Religion Bill prohibited conversion through force, allurement or fraudulent means with penalties of two to five years in prison and fines up to 50,000 rupees ($564 USD). The 2008 attempt introduced enhanced penalties for conversion of vulnerable groups and provisions for cancelling registration of organizations found guilty of violations, but it too failed to become law.
The evolution from 2006 to 2025 shows dramatic escalation in both scope and severity. The current law expanded prohibited grounds to include misrepresentation, coercion, undue influence and conversion by marriage. It introduced mandatory advance declaration procedures requiring public display of personal details including names, addresses and religions involved. Post-conversion, another declaration must be filed within 60 days, and the converted person must appear personally before the district magistrate.
Maximum penalties increased from five years to life imprisonment, while fines jumped from thousands to millions of rupees. Most significantly, the 2025 law introduces property confiscation and demolition provisions entirely absent from earlier attempts, representing an unprecedented expansion of state power over religious freedom and property rights.
Rising Persecution
Rajasthan joined 11 other Indian states with anti-conversion laws under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Since the BJP came to power in 2014, incidents of violence and harassment against Christians have increased dramatically, jumping from just over 100 in 2014 to more than 800 in 2024.
Christians comprise just 2.3 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people. In Rajasthan, Christians represent only 0.14 percent of the 68 million population. Open Doors ranks India 11th on its 2025 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution, a dramatic decline from 31st place in 2013.
The Supreme Court will hear the matter after the Rajasthan government files its response. The outcome could have significant implications for religious freedom and minority rights across India, as similar anti-conversion laws in other states face parallel constitutional challenges.
