GOA CABINET’S ANTI-CONVERSION BILL: A GRAVE THREAT TO CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOM AND COMMUNAL HARMONY. Joint Demand for Its Withdrawal Forthwith.
The Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) and the Catholic Association of Goa (CAG) jointly and strongly condemn the Goa Cabinet’s decision to approve the Goa Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2026 for introduction in the forthcoming session of the Goa Legislative Assembly.
Goa has long been distinguished by its culture of peaceful coexistence among people of different faiths. This proposed legislation risks irreparably damaging that precious inheritance by replacing mutual trust with suspicion, and social harmony with surveillance and fear.
The Church in Goa unequivocally opposes any conversion brought about through force, fraud, threats or coercion. Such acts are already punishable under existing criminal laws.
The Catholic Church is consistently on record that it does not indulge in forced conversions. Its own Canon Law explicitly requires that an adult seeking baptism must do so freely and after proper instruction. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) process, which typically spans several months, is designed precisely to ensure that individuals make a well-informed and voluntary decision regarding their faith.
The State must not use the prevention of coercion as a pretext for supervising personal belief, restricting interfaith relationships, or criminalising legitimate prayer, religious teaching, pastoral care and charitable service.
Reports indicate that the Bill prohibits conversion through vaguely defined categories such as “force, coercion, undue influence, allurement, fraudulent means or marriage”, and prescribes exceptionally severe penalties, including imprisonment up to life, fines of at least ₹50,000, and compensation up to ₹5 lakh. It is also reported to require prior notice to the District Magistrate for any proposed conversion and to permit complaints by any person, including relatives, neighbours or political activists.
The term “allurement” is especially dangerous when it is vague enough to turn education, medical assistance, relief work, prayer for healing or ordinary neighbourly compassion into grounds for criminal accusation. Once conversion is treated as inherently suspicious, almost any act of Christian witness or service may be misrepresented as inducement.
The Constitution of India protects the freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion. The Supreme Court has affirmed that an adult’s choice of faith and marriage belongs to the protected realm of personal liberty and dignity. Any law that intrudes into this sphere must meet the highest standards of clarity, necessity and proportionality. This Bill, as reported, fails that test.
Equally alarming is the possibility that complaints may be encouraged from informants or third parties. Such provisions will set brother against brother, neighbour against neighbour and community against community. They create incentives for relatives, political activists and vigilante groups to monitor private relationships, disrupt prayer meetings and lodge accusations against persons whose religious choices they dislike. A law presented as protecting harmony may therefore become an instrument for destroying it.
No convincing evidence of widespread forced conversion in Goa has been placed before the public. Goa must not import divisive legislation merely because similar laws have been enacted in BJP-governed states. Constitutional governance cannot be reduced to political band-wagoning.
We jointly fear that the law will encourage further politically inspired violence and misuse of its provisions, and that it will help entrench what can only be described as a communal mafia – a loose but effective network of self-appointed enforcers, from the subjugation of religious minorities under cover of law as well as misuse of law, as observed in other parts of the country where such Acts have been enacted.
We therefore call upon the Goa Government to immediately withdraw the Bill. At the very least, it must publish the full draft, invite consultation with religious communities, constitutional scholars, civil-society organisations and representatives of interfaith families, and ensure a transparent legislative review.
Freedom of conscience belongs equally to Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, atheists and every other citizen. Today the State may scrutinize one person’s conversion; tomorrow it may intrude upon everyone’s conscience and beliefs.
Goa does not need a bureaucracy to oversee conscience. It needs renewed confidence in constitutional liberty, the maturity of its citizens and its historic tradition of peaceful coexistence.
Jointly For CSJP & CAG
Fr. Savio Fernandes Cyril A. Fernandes
SECRETARY PRESIDENT
CSJP CAG
Mobile No. 9326428375 Mobile No: 9422446139
For further Correspondence:
The Catholic Association of Goa,
Maquinez Palace, Near Inox,
Panjim, GOA – 403001
Phone: 9145748929 / 9422446139
Email: goacatholicassoc@gmail.com
