An Indian citizen living in Mumbai now has to give the government a 60-day notice if they want to change their faith, according to the ironically named Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act of 2026.
Todd Nettleton of The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) says almost half of the 28 Indian states now have such a law.
“We're now at 13 states in India that have some kind of anti-conversion law after Maharashtra became the latest. In August, the law went into effect,” Nettleton states.
However, he says the law is already being challenged in court, and by a Muslim, no less.
“At some point, the Supreme Court of India is going to have to rule on these anti-conversion laws, because the national constitution says we have religious freedom, and yet, you have 13 now individual states who are saying you don't have religious freedom,” Nettleton says.
Nettleton says the law defines “conversion” as a change driven by force, fraud, coercion, undue influence, misrepresentation or illegal “allurement.” He says authorities are taking the laws seriously, and in some cases, enforcing them absurdly.
“The cookies that you set out before your church service, the Hindu nationalists can come in and say, ‘Look, they're giving away cookies to make people change their faith to Christianity,’ and it's like, ‘No, we just like to have cookies before our service,’” Nettleton says.
He says because of that, a human rights attorney is advising churches to keep meticulous records.
“If they are accused, they can go to those records and say, no, no, no, that person has been coming to our church for six months,” Nettleton
According to VOM’s Prayer Guide, India is listed as a restricted nation, which is a country “where government-sanctioned circumstances or anti-Christian laws lead to Christians being harassed, imprisoned, killed or deprived of possessions or liberties because of their witness.”
Their overview of the country reveals that 80% of the inhabitants are Hindus and 10% are Muslims. There is not an accurate count on the number of Christians, but it’s estimated around 5% of the population.
