On October 17, 2025, India’s highest court, the Supreme Court, passed a very important judgment in the case of Rajendra Bihari Lal v. State of Uttar Pradesh. This decision draws a clear line, limiting how the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 (also called the U.P. Conversion Act) can be used.
The two-judge bench, led by Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, cancelled multiple police complaints (FIRs) that had been filed against Rajendra Bihari Lal and others connected to SHUATS university. This ruling aims to stop criminal law from being used to unfairly trouble people over their matters of faith.
Two Big Rules the Court Emphasized
The case was centered on six police complaints filed by people who claimed mass religious conversions happened at a church in Fatehpur in 2022. The Court essentially said these complaints were wrongly filed by the wrong people.
The Supreme Court highlighted two fundamental mistakes in the police process:
1. Only the Affected Person Can Complain (No Outsiders Allowed)
The Court looked closely at the original rules (Section 4) of the U.P. Conversion Act. This rule was clear: the complaint must be filed by the person who was allegedly forced to convert, or their parents/siblings.
- The Problem: The very first police case was filed by a leader of a religious group who was a complete "stranger"—someone with no direct connection to the people allegedly converted.
- The Court's Decision: The judges ruled that allowing outsiders to file such cases is illegal because choosing a religion is a deeply personal matter. The Constitution protects your freedom of religion and your right to live with dignity. If a stranger can jump in and file a case, it becomes an "unacceptable invasion" of your private life, opening the door for cases driven by bad intentions.
2. You Can't File the Same Case Twice
The Court noticed that after the first police complaint was filed illegally by a stranger, the State went on to file several more complaints for the exact same event.
- The Court's Decision: The judges clearly stated that filing multiple complaints about the same incident is a severe abuse of the legal process. This practice is designed only to harass the accused person repeatedly. The judges concluded that these extra FIRs were filed with the wrong motivation (bad faith) just to fix the mistake in the first, illegal complaint.
The Supreme Court also sent a message regarding the work done by religious groups:
- The judges clarified that doing charity work or receiving foreign aid—even if done in the name of religion—is not a crime by itself under the U.P. Conversion Act. There must be proof of force, fraud, or allurement for the law to apply.
Why This Judgment Matters:
The Rajendra Bihari Lal decision is a strong protection for people's basic rights in India. It achieves two main goals:
- Protects Privacy: It ensures that your personal religious choices are safe from being challenged in court by unrelated people or groups looking to cause trouble.
- Stops Harassment: It limits the State's power to stack up multiple cases against a person for the same event, protecting citizens from unnecessary and long-drawn legal persecution.
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