SC’s notices to Centre, Chhattisgarh over anti-conversion law

A Supreme Court bench issued a notice after the Isai Adivasi Mahasabha challenged the state's legislation.

Raipur: The Supreme Court on Monday, October 26, issued notices to the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government while hearing a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the state’s anti-conversion law.

The court directed that the matter be heard alongside petitions challenging similar laws passed in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, according to Hindustan Times.

The Chhattisgarh assembly approved the bill to prevent forced religious conversions, fraud, misrepresentation, and inducement. The law has been widely criticised, with civil rights groups pointing out that it violates an individual’s rights.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued a notice after the Isai Adivasi Mahasabha, an organisation representing tribal Christians, challenged the state’s legislation.

The bench noted that a similar petition had been filed before the Chhattisgarh High Court.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the petitioner, pointed out that similar legislation is already facing challenges in the Supreme Court. “Once these matters are decided, the matters before the High Court will become redundant.”

Gonsalves was told that the apex court does not have the authority to compel individuals who have filed petitions in a high court to move their cases to the Supreme Court instead.

Gonsalves said he is acquainted with the petitioners who filed the case in the High Court and that they said the matter must be filed in the Supreme Court. He agreed to consult them and consider filing a transfer petition to bring the matter to the Supreme Court.

Citing Article 25 (religious freedom), the plea argued that choosing a religious belief is a person’s most intimate expression of personal autonomy.

‘Law glorifying one religion over another’

According to the petition, the original Chhattisgarh law was limited to specific prohibitions against conversion by force, allurement, or fraud and did not mention voluntary conversion. It flagged Section 2(I)(a) of the anti-conversion law that stated even a promise of a “better lifestyle” as “allurement”. The Section treats glorifying one religion over another as an inducement, the plea read.

“These formulations are wide enough to capture ordinary religious preaching, exposition of doctrine, and humanitarian or charitable work that this court has repeatedly held to be constitutionally protected,” the petition said. The law does not include instances of “reversion” to ancestral faith, and the expression “ancestral religion” is not explained, it added.

The petitioner questioned the prior declaration under Section 4, mandating publication of a person’s name, current faith and proposed religion on the competent authority’s website as well as on notice boards in the tahsildar’s office, gram panchayat, and local police. The conversion is termed illegal if the rule is not followed.

‘Conversion being turned into a licensed activity’

“This converts the exercise of an inherent fundamental right into a licensed activity, contingent on advance governmental notification and compulsory neighbourhood-level publicity of what this court has repeatedly held to be one of the most private decisions a person can make,” the petition said.

A person is required to file a new declaration within 30 days and appear in person within 21 days after conversion. If these steps are missed, no conversion certificate will be issued, and the conversion becomes legally void. The law imposes a minimum of seven years in prison and increases it to up to 10 years if the person converting is a minor, a woman, or belongs to the Other Backward Class (OBC), Scheduled Caste (SC), or Scheduled Tribe (ST) category.