India: Anti-conversion Bill Amendment Would Impose the Death Penalty

As previously reported on this site, the BJP is not only nationalist, but also pursues the Hindutva ideal, which seeks to see all non-Hindus disappear from the national territory. It should be noted that "Hindu," in the thinking of its authors, includes Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs, who are indigenous, but formally rejects Muslims and Christians.

At a Women's Day event on March 8, 2025, in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, the state's Chief Minister, Mohan Yadav, according to AsiaNews, declared: "We will amend the anti-conversion laws to equate this offense with the rape of minors."

He then elaborated on and explained his intention to introduce "the death penalty for the religious conversion of girls." To achieve this, he wants his government to amend the existing law on conversion—which is, incidentally, one of the harshest in all of India—to introduce the death penalty for perpetrators "along the same lines as the punishment for the rape of minors."

Later that evening, AsiaNews further reported, "the state government issued a statement affirming that severe action would be taken against those who 'by force or recruitment, marry or convert to their religion. No culprit will be spared under any circumstances.'"

The Archbishop of Bangalore, Peter Machado, Vice President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CCBI), expressed his dismay at such statements to AsiaNews: "This announcement comes as a real shock to Christians and other minorities in the country. While forced conversion must be condemned and punished in accordance with legal provisions, the means used to prosecute it must also be analyzed."

He went on to note that such statements "incite the masses against minorities" and should "be noted and condemned." The central government should prosecute these instigators of violence for their hate speech, he further explained.

And considering the general situation in India, he concluded by stating that it is sad "that concerns about the safety of Christians and pastoral workers of the Church in the northern and central states [mainly ruled by BJP members] are increasing, in the face of the apathy and indifference of the Delhi government."

This threat is only the latest episode in the anti-Christian religious persecution in India led by the BJP, a persecution that is often bloody and seeks to completely stifle, if not totally eradicate, Christianity, according to the Hindutva ideology mentioned above.