JEFF TURNER AND RAMESH SINGH

The Allahabad High Court ruled this month that distributing Bibles and preaching religious doctrine are not crimes under Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law when there is no coercion or inducement involved. The decision was delivered by a Division Bench comprising Justices Abdul Moin and Babita Rani, who found serious flaws in how police had handled the case.

The case began when police registered an FIR based on a complaint alleging that the accused had hosted religious gatherings at his residence. The complaint described the use of an LED screen, the delivery of sermons, and the distribution of Bibles during these gatherings.

However, the court found that these activities alone do not violate the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. The judges noted that the FIR failed to identify any individual who had been subjected to coercion, inducement, or threats. At the time the complaint was filed, there was no identifiable victim in the case. The court emphasized that coercion, inducement, or fraudulent means are essential elements required to invoke the 2021 Act. The absence of any allegation of actual or attempted conversion was a central reason for the court’s intervention.

The bench was particularly critical of the Uttar Pradesh Police for their handling of the matter. The court faulted officers for registering an FIR without identifying any victim and for acting in haste in a case where no person had claimed to have been converted.

As a result of its findings, the court granted bail to the accused and issued notice to the complainant in the case. The ruling clarified that simply distributing Bibles or preaching does not automatically trigger the anti-conversion law. More broadly, the judgment reaffirmed constitutional protections for lawful religious expression in India.