Chhattisgarh Passes Anti-Conversion Bill
Analysis based on 8 articles · First reported Mar 19, 2026 · Last updated Mar 19, 2026
This event has no direct impact on financial markets. It is a legislative development within India — Chhattisgarh concerning religious conversions, which primarily affects social and legal aspects rather than economic or financial ones.
The India — Chhattisgarh assembly passed the India — Chhattisgarh Dharm Swatantraya Vidheyak 2026, a bill designed to prevent religious conversions through force, inducement, fraud, or misrepresentation. The bill includes stringent penalties, such as life imprisonment for 'mass conversion' (defined as two or more persons converting in a single event) and significant fines. It also mandates declarations from individuals intending to convert and prior intimation from religious functionaries. The bill broadens definitions of 'allurement' and 'coercion' and prohibits conversions for the sole purpose of marriage. The India — Indian National Congress boycotted the assembly proceedings, arguing the bill infringes on privacy and could be misused, while Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma defended it as necessary due to changing circumstances and alleged conversion incidents. The new law replaces the India — Chhattisgarh Dharm Swatantraya Adhiniyam 1968, adopted from India — Madhya Pradesh.
Set up alerts, explore entity relationships, search across thousands of events, and build custom intelligence feeds.
Open Dashboard