Bombay High Court Quashes Conversion Case Against Four in Maharashtra

NAGPUR, October 14, 2026: The Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench has quashed criminal proceedings against four people accused of pressuring a man and his wife to convert to Christianity, ruling that promoting one’s religion does not, by itself, amount to an offence against religious feelings.

Justice M.W. Chandwani held that the allegations did not establish offences under Sections 299 and 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The court also noted that the mandatory sanction required to prosecute under Section 299 had not been obtained.

The case arose from a complaint filed by a social worker associated with the Indian Children New Life Mission, a charitable institution in Chandur Bazar, where he received a monthly honorarium of ₹6,750.

According to the complaint, one of the accused, an office-bearer of the institution, offered to pay the complainant’s children’s educational expenses and build him a house. The complainant also alleged pressure to declare Christianity as his religion in official documents and claimed that children were being influenced at Sunday school.

The FIR was registered on January 14, 2026, and a charge-sheet was subsequently filed. The four accused approached the High Court seeking to quash the proceedings, arguing that the complaint did not establish the offences in question and that the required prosecution sanction was absent.

Rejecting the State’s contention that the accused had enticed the couple to convert, the court observed that the allegations did not establish deliberate and malicious intent to outrage religious feelings or insult religious beliefs.

“The applicants were merely promoting their religion and that does not mean that by doing so, they outraged the religious feelings of any class,” the court observed.

It also found that the allegations did not satisfy Section 302, which concerns words, sounds or gestures intended to wound religious feelings.

The court further noted that the alleged conduct dated to 2025, before Maharashtra’s law prohibiting religious conversion through allurement came into force on August 28, 2026.

Concluding that the charges were not made out, the court quashed the FIR and charge-sheet against all four accused.

Advocate Deepak Khushlani represented the applicants, while Assistant Public Prosecutor D.I. Charlewar appeared for the State. No one appeared on behalf of the complainant.

News Credits: Verdictum