Christians in India fear that tighter laws target them

Christians in India fear that tighter laws target them. Published August 29, 2026 Updated August 29, 2026 03: 10pm.

Key points

• On Oct 17, 2025, the court quashed five police complaints against 90 accused, including pastors from Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh and hospital staff and university authorities in Prayagraj.
• Archbishop Joseph D'souza, president of the All-India Christian Council, described the amendment as "legalised loot(ing) of the Indian Christian community".
• With that, Maharashtra becomes the 13th of India's 28 states to enact an anti-conversion law.
• On Aug 5, Representative Riley Moore called India's amendment a "clear attack on Christians".
• Twenty civil society organisations, including Christian ones, held a press conference on Aug 24 in Mumbai asking for the withdrawal of the law.

Those going to church on Sunday in Mumbai will take part in an uneasy new ritual before the service. They will sign a form declaring that they are attending the service voluntarily and are not being forced to go to church or convert to Christianity.

Around 4, 000 churches in the Mumbai Metropolitan Area in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have decided to collect such "consent forms" to protect themselves ahead of an upcoming anti-conversion law that criminalises alleged forced conversions.

"These consent forms are the least safety measure we can take to protect us from legal proceedings if anyone attempts to accuse the pastors or churches of forcibly converting people, " Dolphy D'souza, spokesman for the Bombay Catholic Society, informed The Straits Times.

"There have been a dozen disruptions of prayers previously six months, by Hindu right-wing groups under the pretext of exposing forced conversions. So we have additionally asked churches to install CCTV cameras to identify attackers, " he went on.

Meanwhile, the defensive actions in Mumbai are the latest response to a range of allegedly discriminatory actions by the Indian administration against the Christian community. It is the third-largest religious group in India and comprises 2.3 per cent of the population. These include anti-conversion laws in a number of states and the tightening of laws governing foreign funding of non-profit organisations. It could result in the seizure of assets such as schools and hospitals built with such donations.

When Maharashtra's anti-conversion law, the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act 2026, came into force, representatives of the Christian community in Mumbai remarked they fear an uptick in vigilante attacks on churches from Aug 28. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration in the western state passed the law in July.

As in other states, the Maharashtra law paves the way for enforcement against religious conversion through coercion, fraud or inducements. Anyone who wants to adopt another faith must inform the authorities 60 days in advance. If these rules are violated, church authorities or individuals can be jailed for seven years.

Twenty civil society organisations, including Christian ones, held a press conference on Aug 24 in Mumbai asking for the withdrawal of the law. It they remarked is an "intrusive regulation of personal choices" and impinges on an Indian's right to practise and propagate their faith freely, guaranteed in the Indian Constitution.

Fraudulent or coercive religious conversions are already punishable under Indian criminal codes, remarked D'souza. Distinct anti-conversion laws cast aspersions on permitted activities as well. They are a political weapon to polarise individuals and provide a handle to Hindu majoritarian groups to misuse to terrorise religious minorities.

"We have seen right-wing elements unleash violence on Muslims in India through lynching, bulldozing of houses and blocking namaz prayers in public. Now, the targeting of Christians is additionally expanding – they disrupt prayer meetings, saying we are forcing Hindus to become Christians, " stated D'souza, adding that church groups' requests for protection from the police had fallen on deaf ears.

For context, the consent forms and CCTV cameras in Mumbai, D'souza continued, are a result of "the trust deficit" between the community and the city police and could serve as evidence against any targeted litigation.

Anti-conversion laws have been in effect in some Indian states since the 1980s, but have become harsher and more widespread previously decade as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP has won elections in more states.

For context, the authorities and hardline Hindu groups affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP, often "struggle to differentiate between persuasion and coercion", remarked a lawyer and former Catholic priest in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It passed an anti-conversion law in 2020. He spoke to ST on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation.

Legal aid groups estimate that there are around 200 ongoing cases against Christians in Uttar Pradesh under its anti-conversion law, and more than 800 individuals, including pastors and worshippers, have been arrested or detained.

Shiv, a 30-year-old pastor from a village in Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh, informed ST that a group of residents claiming to protect the Hindu religion burst into his nightly prayer session in January. As the 90 or so attendees fled in fear, the vigilantes threw water on the dinner that had been arranged for them.

While shouting Hindu slogans, they additionally allegedly roughed up the pastor, the owner of the prayer house and some women attendees. An hour afterwards, the police arrived, arrested Shiv and detained him for 26 hours before registering a complaint under the state's anti-conversion law.

"I have held prayer meetings for three years in the village. Mostly labourers, small farmers and poor families attend to obtain a few hours' respite from their hard life. I don't force anyone, " remarked Shiv. This person was granted bail but has not held services since as he awaits trial.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh lawyer, who represents over three dozen accused throughout the state, stated that a year ago, the disruptions applied to be at rural fellowships, but "now, extremist groups are targeting city churches as well".

Charitable work, educational assistance and religious preaching are often counted as "allurement" and brought within the scope of anti-conversion investigations, he continued. A common slur applied by Hindu right-wing trolls online against Christians is "rice bag convert". It assumes that the person or his ancestors became Christian in exchange for these inducements.

In practice, a number of police complaints ST has seen simply list the Bible and cross under evidence to suggest coerced baptisms.

Anti-conversion laws disproportionately impact women, young adults, Dalits (so-called lower-caste members) and tribals. This person are assumed to be gullible and incapable of exercising independent choice, a press note issued by Mumbai civil society organisations remarked.

Political commentator Insiyah Vahanvaty and Ashish Bharadwaj, professor and dean at BITS Pilani Law School, wrote in The Hindustan Times that while the anti-conversion laws claim to protect the vulnerable, their real-world impact is chilling.

"Vigilantes employ them to harass interfaith couples, suppress minority rights and instil fear in them. Claims of guarding against deceitful conversions ring hollow when couples marrying throughout faiths are arrested, or when volunteers handing out food are accused of enticement, " they wrote.

For context, the non-profit Citizens for Justice and Peace has challenged the validity of anti-conversion laws throughout Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in a petition in the Supreme Court.

On Oct 17, 2025, the court quashed five police complaints against 90 accused, including pastors from Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh and hospital staff and university authorities in Prayagraj. This person were named in complaints of mass conversions of Hindus to Christianity in April 2022.

According to The judges, "the criminal law cannot be allowed to be made a tool of harassment of innocent persons", based on "completely incredulous material".

Notably, the Indian administration has additionally tried since March 2026 to pass an amendment to the 1970s Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) regulating the foreign funding of Indian non-profits and charities. The new bill allows a administration authority to take over, manage or dispose of assets such as land and buildings funded by foreign sources when a non-profit's five-year FCRA licence is suspended, cancelled, or not renewed.

Christian-run non-profits were the first to demand changes to the Bill, backed by governments in states with significant Christian populations, such as Nagaland, Mizoram, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

Home Minister Amit Shah met concerned groups in early August and assured them that the amendment was "religion-neutral". He continued that the administration had "no intention to harass the Christian community", whose non-profits receive less than 15 per cent of total foreign donations.

In practice, the administration FCRA dashboard indicates that more than 22, 400 of the 52, 000 registered charities have had their licences to receive foreign funds cancelled, and 15, 200 licences have expired or not been renewed. Non-profits say they are rarely given clear reasons for cancellation or non-renewal. The official data does not classify how plenty of of these are Christian or religious charities.

As Christian organisations run thousands of schools, hospitals, and orphanages that rely on foreign donations, they were bound to be affected, but the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India and the National Council of Churches in India expressed concern that.

Archbishop Joseph D'souza, president of the All-India Christian Council, described the amendment as "legalised loot(ing) of the Indian Christian community". The developments have been criticised by politicians in the US.

On Aug 5, Representative Riley Moore called India's amendment a "clear attack on Christians". In June, Senator James Risch. This person heads the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had described the proposed amendments as "deeply concerning".

In May, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's diplomatic itinerary to India included a highly publicised visit to the Missionaries of Charity headquarters in Kolkata, whose FCRA licence the Indian administration had temporarily revoked in 2021 citing, vaguely, "adverse inputs".

Notably, a few days before Rubio's visit, Representative Chris Smith wrote in an editorial in the Washington Examiner that impending changes to the FCRA could grant the Modi administration sweeping powers to retroactively seize properties, schools and hospitals belonging to foreign-funded non-profits if their administrative licences are produced to lapse.

India's Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra defended the amendments on social media as an attempt to improve transparency. He remarked that foreign contributions received by registered organisations in India had climbed from US$1.2 billion (S$1.5 billion) in 2010-2011 to US$2.67bn in 2024-2025.

But critics remarked tighter controls could produce it harder for legitimate organisations to access overseas funding, and the administration would be overreaching in taking over assets built with approved donations.

"Non-profits would have used the donations to build schools, a small clinic, a toilet in a school or buy some equipment for a science lab, or a jeep to go to villages, " remarked John Dayal, a Delhi-based human rights activist and member of the National Integration Council of India. It works for religious harmony. "These are legitimate investments in community welfare made with legally obtained funds – seizing them retrospectively is to rob the poor communities they are meant for."

For now, christians in India fear that tighter laws target them remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.