Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act, 2026: Law to come into force from August 28, Pune police drop anti-conversion law provisions from two cases

A senior officer from Pune police said that prosecution in both the cases will continue under the remaining provisions.

Two separate cases were registered with Pune city police under the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act, 2026, the first on August 5 and the second on August 9. In the first case registered at a police station on August 5, a 45-year-old man, currently living in Ludhiana and a native of Uttar Pradesh, has filed a complaint about his 17-year-old daughter who had gone missing last year. When the family came to Pune recently in search of her they found out that she was allegedly sexually abused by a 21-year-old man, who had made attempts for her religious conversion. A case was registered against the 21-year-old accused under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act, 2026. The 21-year-old accused is currently in judicial custody.

Second case was registered at the Khadak police station under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 and Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act, 2026. In this case, a British national Pankaj Devnoor was booked based on a complaint filed by a 31-year-old rickshaw driver. The British national who holds an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) has secured an interim anticipatory bail in the case. The complainant has said in the FIR that, “In a programme organised on August 7 at Guruwar Peth area, Devnoor was trying to spread misconceptions about Hindu religion and was trying to lure the people in the audience into religious conversion.”

The legislation criminalises religious conversion brought about through coercion, fraud, force, threats, misrepresentation, inducement or undue influence. It also covers conversions allegedly linked to marriage or a promise of marriage. Significantly, the law places the onus on the person facilitating the conversion to establish that it was carried out voluntarily. It prescribes stricter punishment when the alleged conversion involves a minor, woman, member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, or a person of unsound mind. The Maharashtra Legislature passed the law earlier this year. It subsequently received the President’s assent and was notified by the state government on July 31.

Devnoor’s lawyer Vijaysinh Thombre said, “This means that Pune police registered a case in a hurried manner when the law was not even in force. This was done just to make certain people and organisations happy. This is very condemnable. We have already approached the high court and have submitted that Devnoor has been booked in a false case.”