Jaipur – In the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, bordering Pakistan, the Jaipur Catholic Welfare Society has turned to the Supreme Court to challenge the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act of 2025, arguing that the law violates the Indian Constitution. “The structure of the law is designed solely to instill fear in people’s minds and discourage conversion,” the Catholic organization, based in the state capital of Jaipur, stated. The Supreme Court ruled the petition admissible and ordered the Rajasthan government to provide clarification. Attorney Rajeev Dhavan, representing the plaintiff, explained, “We have raised questions of legislative competence as well as constitutional limitations,” and reported that the case will be heard in court in approximately one month. The structure of the law is designed solely to instill fear in people’s minds and discourage conversion, the court stated.
The controversial law was passed by the Rajasthan State Parliament in September 2025 . According to this legislation, a conversion is considered “illegal and void” if it is achieved through “false statements, violence, undue influence, coercion, fraudulent means, or marriage.” Catholics in Jaipur point out that the use of ambiguous terms such as “fraudulent means” allows any religious conversion to be interpreted as “illegal,” effectively preventing the free choice of individual conscience and restricting the right to freedom of belief and conscience, which is protected by the Indian Constitution. In the western Indian state of Maharashtra, local Catholics have also sent an open letter to Prime Minister Shri Devendra Padnavis expressing their “deep concern” about the proposed religious freedom bill that the state government intends to introduce. “Religion is a matter of personal faith: Belief in God is a matter of conscience, a sacred and individual decision,” Catholic lawyer Raphael D’Souza, a member of the All India Catholic Union, the largest Catholic lay movement in India and across Asia , told Fides. He is one of the signatories of the letter.
“The right to practice, preach, and spread one’s faith is a fundamental right enshrined in our Constitution, which only provides for reasonable restrictions to protect against public unrest. The Constitution clearly states that the state has no role in matters of personal belief,” the lawyer stated. “However, under the pretext of restricting forced conversions, 12 states have enacted ‘religious freedom laws’ or anti-conversion laws,” he noted. The first such law was passed in Odisha in 1967. Since then, 11 other states have done the same, introducing increasingly severe criminal provisions. “But despite the countless charges against Christian missionaries and despite the attacks on individuals, institutions, and places of worship,” D’Souza continued, “the conviction rate remains virtually zero. This suggests that these laws have been misused to hinder the charitable and educational work of Christian organizations, particularly those benefiting marginalized or oppressed communities.” He further warned that in states where these laws are in effect, “interfaith tensions, disharmony, and violence are on the rise.” Local Catholics wrote to the Prime Minister: “The state of Maharashtra has thus far distinguished itself as secular and resisted the wave of anti-conversion laws. Now, however, there seems to be a will to introduce such a law. Do the statistics justify such legislation? When the state of Maharashtra was founded in 1960, Hindus made up about 82.24% of the population, while Christians comprised about 1.42%. In 2001, the Hindu population grew from 32.5 million to 77.8 million, while the Christian population increased from 560,000 to one million, representing a percentage decrease from 1.42% to 0.96%. Nationally, the Christian population also experienced a decline, from 2.44% in 1961 to 2.30% in 2011. Thus, official census data shows a decrease in the number of Christians, yet the number of attacks on Christians increased, reaching approximately 840 in 2024. Against this backdrop, Catholics are asking: Is the proposed law on religious freedom truly necessary? Or is it a political instrument to appease fundamentalist elements within the majority community and to discriminate against Christians? can they, by disadvantaging their work and hindering acts of charity, compassion, and peaceful coexistence? The government of the state of Maharashtra, the letter concludes, “has the responsibility to safeguard the rights of all citizens, regardless of their faith: whether Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, or Christian, every citizen turns to it for protection from abuse of the law.”
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