13 March 2025 :
The Chief Minister of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has said his government would make a provision for the death penalty to punish what it describes as “forced” religious conversion of females, a move that has drawn consternation from the Church in India.
Mohan Yadav’s comments came during an event in the city of Bhopal, the state capital, to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March.
Yadav said the government is making changes to the existing law pertaining to religious conversion and that the provision of the death penalty in the instance of forced religious conversion of females will be in keeping with the punishment for raping children.
The comments come against a backdrop of Hindu nationalists often accusing both Muslims and Christians of targeting marginalised low caste and tribal Hindus to convert through alleged illicit means, such as offering them food or money.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014, is often criticised for adhering to Hindu nationalist ideology.
Several states have already passed anti-conversion laws, which impose fines and jail terms for anyone convicted of a “forced conversion”.
The Madhya Pradesh state government issued a statement saying that strict action would be taken against those who “forcefully” cause females to convert their religion, including the use of marriage.
The statement said: “Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that the government will take the strictest steps against those who misbehave with girls, women and daughters. The culprits will be given death penalty. No culprit will be spared under any circumstances. Religious Freedom Act is in force in Madhya Pradesh to take strict action against those who forcefully or by luring people to marry or convert their religion.”
Father Babu Joseph, the former spokesperson of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), said the statement by the state minister was “preposterous”.
“That a chief minister of a state, whose professed duty is to protect the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Indian constitution, should indulge in such rabble rousing is akin to demeaning his office,” he told Crux.
“Additionally in the twenty-first century, when nation after nation is trying to do away with capital punishment even for serious crimes, here we have someone toying with the idea of introducing it for exercising one’s conscience,” the priest said.
“Religious belief in any civilised society has always been considered to belong to the personal realm and the state has no reason to interfere with it. However, it has become a trend in some states in India to take push the personal religious matter into the political center stage thereby creating social unease,” Joseph said.
Since the BJP took power in the national government in 2014, incidents of harassment against Christians and other minorities have increased across the country.
