Overview
- The cabinet on March 5 approved the draft Dharma Swatantrya Adhiniyam (Freedom of Religion Act), 2026, prepared after a DGP-led committee studied other states’ laws.
- Individuals seeking to change religion must give 60 days’ notice and obtain approval from a designated authority before converting.
- Conversions must be registered within 25 days or they will be treated as null and void under the draft.
- Unlawful conversions by force, fraud or allurement would be non-bailable offences with penalties of up to seven years in jail and fines up to Rs 5 lakh, with provisions to act against organisations.
- Police must file an FIR if a blood relative alleges an unlawful conversion, as ministers frame the bill as targeting coerced conversions linked to “love jihad” while opposition and rights groups raise constitutional concerns and the Supreme Court examines similar state laws.