Between January 1, 2021, and April 30, 2023, the Uttar Pradesh police department recorded 427 religious conversion-related cases. So far, 833 people have been arrested in this cases. Notably, the Yogi Adityanath government enacted the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act on November 27, 2020, in response to an increase in coercive religious conversions and failed inter-faith relationships in the state.
Following the state governor’s consent in February 2021, the ordinance became an Act. Since then, the state government has taken harsh measures against people who engage in coercive religious conversion by recruiting girls from one community while concealing their true identity. According to high-ranking police officers, victims admitted in court to being forcibly converted in 185 cases. So far, 65 cases of conversion have included adolescents.
The Bareilly zone had the most cases, with 86, followed by 59 in Gorakhpur, 53 in Lucknow, 47 in Meerut, 46 in Prayagraj, and 39 in Varanasi. In terms of police commissioners, the state capital Lucknow leads the way with 20 instances, followed by Kanpur (19), Prayagraj (13), and Noida (10). According to the terms of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act-2021, an accused faces a jail term of one to five years, as well as fines of up to Rs 15,000 if convicted. Conversions of women belonging to scheduled caste or scheduled tribe communities, or who are minors, are punishable by up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to Rs 25,000.
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