The Bombay High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against four people accused of pressuring a man and his wife to convert from Hinduism to Christianity.
Justice M.W. Chandwani held on 6 October that promoting one’s own religion is not the same as insulting another faith or deliberately wounding religious feelings. Even accepting the prosecution case at face value, the allegations did not satisfy Sections 299 or 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The court also noted that the alleged conduct occurred in 2025, before Maharashtra’s new law restricting conversion by allurement came into force on 28 August 2026. Criminal liability could not be imposed retrospectively.
Finding that the FIR disclosed no offence, the court applied the Supreme Court’s Bhajan Lal principles and set aside both the FIR and charge-sheet against the applicants.