Maharashtra Anti-Conversion Law: Why Churches Are Asking Worshippers To Sign 'No-Pressure' Declarations

Weeks after Maharashtra's new anti-conversion law came into force, congregations across the state are taking an unusual precaution, they are reportedly recording in writing that worshippers are attending services entirely of their own free will. The practice has emerged as churches try to protect themselves after police in Pune registered the law's first cases within days of it taking effect, and as Christian groups warn that the law's broad language leaves ordinary religious life exposed to complaints of coercion or inducement.

The documentation reflects a wider anxiety gripping Maharashtra's Christian community, coming at a moment when attacks on Christians and their places of worship have been reported with rising frequency across several Indian states.

What does Maharashtra's new anti-conversion law actually say?

The Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act, 2026 — also referred to as the Dharma Swatantrya Adhiniyam — prohibits religious conversion carried out through force, fraud, coercion, misrepresentation, threat, undue influence or 'allurement,' a term defined broadly enough to include offers of money, gifts, employment, free education or the promise of a better lifestyle; portraying one religion as superior to another can also fall within its provisions.

Violations are non-bailable, carrying up to seven years' imprisonment and a fine of roughly ₹4.5 lakh, with repeat offenders facing up to 10 years. Anyone wishing to convert voluntarily must give the District Magistrate 60 days' prior notice, and both the convert and the person facilitating the conversion must file a post-conversion declaration within 21 days, detailing identity, addresses, former and new religion, and the date, place and manner of conversion.

Failure to comply can render a conversion — and any marriage linked to it — legally void, and the law allows not just the person concerned but their blood relatives to file a complaint, significantly widening who can trigger a police case. The bill was passed by the Assembly on March 16 and the Council the next day, received presidential assent on July 31, and the state's Home Department notified that it would take full effect from August 28, 2026, even as police had already begun invoking it from early August.

Why are churches asking worshippers to sign 'no-pressure' declarations?

With family members now empowered to file complaints and "allurement" defined widely enough to cover routine charitable or educational activity, church leaders in Maharashtra have started building a documentary record of consent. According to an Indian Express report, churches are asking worshippers to confirm in writing that they are attending services voluntarily and without any inducement, in the hope that such paperwork can serve as a defence if a complaint is later filed.

The Pune Christian Forum, representing multiple denominations, has formally asked civil and police authorities to prevent false complaints and ensure minority communities are not selectively targeted, while the Archdiocese of Bombay issued a detailed press note the day the law received presidential assent, laying out what the Act actually requires so that parishes could prepare.

What has happened since the law came into force?

Pune police registered the law's first cases within days: on August 5, a 22-year-old man was booked, along with charges under the POCSO Act, for allegedly asking a minor he was in a relationship with to convert; a second case followed on August 9-11 against a UK-based Overseas Citizen of India cardholder accused of attempting to induce people to embrace Christianity during prayer gatherings.

But in an embarrassing turn of events for Maharashtra Police, sections of the freedom of religion act were withdrawn in multiple cases after they realized the act hadn’t come into force yet. According to the Hindustan Times, the police pinned the confusion due to ambiguity in the notification about presidential assent being given to the act.

“When the notification informing about the presidential assent to the Act came, it was not specified from which date it would come into force. While registering the offences, the officials assumed that it was already in force,” Kumar said according to the Hindustan Times.

How does this fit into a wider pattern of attacks on Christians in India?

The law's arrival coincides with what advocacy groups describe as an escalating pattern of violence against Christian worshippers nationally. The United Christian Forum recorded 706 attacks on Christians across India between January and November 2025 alone. In Chhattisgarh, a Hindu nationalist mob attacked a prayer service in Sukma district on May 31, 2026, injuring at least 25 worshippers, including the pastor's pregnant. In Telangana, a group of Christmas carolers was attacked by a mob in December 2025, leaving a pastor beaten unconscious. Maharashtra itself saw an attack in February 2026, months before the new law even took effect, when roughly 15 men armed with sticks stormed a worship shed in the state on accusations of illegal conversion, seriously injuring the pastor and vandalising the building.

In July 2026, a mob in West Bengal destroyed an under-construction church and assaulted a congregation during Sunday service, drawing international attention, including a solidarity protest by Christians in neighbouring Bangladesh.

What do critics and civil society groups say?

Christian leaders and constitutional rights groups argue the law's broad definitions blur the line between coercive conversion and ordinary religious or charitable activity — a concern shared by Catholic bishops in western India, who have warned it could undermine constitutionally protected freedom of conscience.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide's (CSW) founder president, Mervyn Thomas, described the law's passage as part of what he called a coordinated pattern of state overreach into personal conscience across Indian states. Courts have flagged similar concerns before: the Himachal Pradesh High Court struck down a comparable prior-declaration requirement in that state's law in 2019, though the state later re-enacted similar provisions.

Policy analysts have also questioned the evidentiary basis for such laws altogether, noting that census data shows the religious composition of India's population has remained relatively stable for decades, undercutting claims of mass conversion drives.

What does the government say in its defence?

State officials maintain the law targets only conversions carried out through force, fraud or inducement, not voluntary religious choice. Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule told the state Assembly a strict law was needed specifically to curb forced conversions, while Chief Minister https://www.outlookindia.com/national/anti-conversion-law-provides-specific-legal-framework-innocent-persons-wont-face-trouble-fadnavis

has separately argued that transparent, law-abiding religious organisations have nothing to fear from tightened regulatory scrutiny.

Opposition leaders, including the Samajwadi Party's S.T. Hasan, have countered that adults are already free to convert voluntarily under existing law, arguing the new legislation's real effect falls on precisely the kind of everyday religious activity it claims not to target.

What happens next?

With the law set to take full effect statewide from August 28, and a Supreme Court challenge to India's anti-conversion laws already pending since 2020 without a ruling on the merits, Maharashtra's Freedom of Religion Act is now headed toward the same untested legal terrain as similar statutes in a dozen other states. In the meantime, churches are likely to keep relying on informal safeguards like voluntary-attendance declarations, while rights groups continue pressing for protections against false or selectively motivated complaints — a test of whether the law's stated aim of preventing coercion can be separated, in practice, from its chilling effect on India's Christian minority.