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Mumbai — A petition brought before the Bombay High Court is challenging the constitutionality of Maharashtra’s recently enacted Freedom of Religion Act, 2026, arguing elements of the law exceed the state’s power and impinge on basic civil liberties. The case puts immediate focus on how the statute will affect interfaith relationships, religious activity and privacy rights across the state.
What the petitioner argues
Maulana Halimullah Khan, the petitioner, concedes that preventing coerced or fraudulent conversions is a legitimate government aim. His legal challenge, however, says the legislation goes further than that objective and risks criminalising ordinary private choices.
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Among the objections, Mr. Khan criticises a provision that prescribes harsher penalties for converting women, calling it discriminatory on the basis of gender. He has also taken aim at the law’s requirement of a mandatory 60-day notice before an individual can formally change religion, which he contends imposes unnecessary bureaucratic intrusion into a personal decision.
Another central claim is that the statute authorises invasive procedures — including compulsory disclosure of personal details and the threat of non-bailable criminal proceedings — that could chill legitimate religious teaching, charity and voluntary conversions.
How the petition would narrow state power
The petitioner asks the court either to strike down the law in its present form or to read it narrowly so it applies only to situations involving actual force, fraud or coercion. He says any state inquiry should be confined to a single question: whether a conversion was made freely and with informed consent — not whether the convert’s beliefs, motivations or exposure to religious instruction were acceptable to officials.
- Core legal challenges: alleged gender discrimination, excessive criminalisation and overbroad investigatory powers.
- Procedural objection: the 60-day notice is described as a disproportionate precondition for a private change of faith.
- Practical concerns: possible deterrent effect on charities, places of worship and interfaith couples who may face public scrutiny or legal harassment.
These arguments raise familiar constitutional questions about the balance between the state’s interest in preventing abuse and individuals’ rights to freely practise, profess and change their religion, and to form personal relationships without undue interference.
Why this matters now
The dispute is timely because how courts interpret the new law will shape enforcement across Maharashtra and potentially influence similar statutes elsewhere. For people in interfaith relationships, religious organisations, and non-governmental groups, the outcome could determine whether routine activities carry legal risk or require new administrative steps.
For readers concerned with civil liberties, the petition spotlights practical stakes: privacy, gender equality and the scope of criminal law when it collides with personal belief and association.
The Bombay High Court will now decide whether to uphold the statute as enacted, pare back its most expansive provisions, or rule it incompatible with constitutional protections. Whichever way the ruling goes, the decision is likely to set a significant precedent for how states regulate conversions and religious activity going forward.
