The Uttar Pradesh Assembly today passed an amendment bill enhancing the punishment under the state’s anti-conversion law, making all offenses under this Act non-bailable. The amended bill increases the maximum punishment to life imprisonment and a fine of ₹5 lakh for violators.

Under the amended provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2024, any person who threatens, attacks, marries, promises to marry, conspires for marriage, or traffics a woman, minor, or any individual with the intent of conversion will face the most severe category of punishment. The amended bill provides for 20-year imprisonment or life imprisonment in such cases.

Previously, the maximum punishment was 10 years in prison and a fine of ₹50,000.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna introduced the bill in the House on Monday. Under the amended provisions, anyone can now register an FIR in conversion cases. Earlier, the presence of the victim, parents, or siblings was necessary, but now the scope has been widened to allow anyone to report such cases to the police in writing.

The cases under this law will only be heard by a sessions court, and bail pleas will not be considered without giving an opportunity to the public prosecutor.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath initiated this measure with the intent of curbing ‘love jihad,’ a term used by some Hindu groups to describe alleged forcible conversions through marriage. An ordinance for this was issued in November 2020, and after the bill was passed by both houses of the Uttar Pradesh Legislature, the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 came into force.