Five full trials of cases registered under the anti-conversion law in the North Indian state of Uttarakhand fell short of judicial scrutiny due to insufficient evidence, leading to the accused’s complete acquittal, a media investigation revealed last week.

The investigative data report published by The Indian Express, a prominent and widely read English-language newspaper in India, stated that, even as arrests continue under the anti-conversion law, court records show the law may be falling short of a basic legal test: evidence.

The data highlights a significant gap between the number of cases registered under the anti-conversion law and the number of convictions secured in court.

Seven years have passed by since the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act (UFRA) was enacted to curb “forced religious conversions” immediately after the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power in Uttarakhand.

The BJP is also in power across the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The UFRA was subsequently amended twice in 2022 and 2025 to give the statute more teeth. Prison terms increased from three to 10 years, rising to 20 years or life in extreme cases.

The Act aims to “provide freedom of religion” by prohibiting religious conversions effected “by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement, or by any fraudulent means or by marriage.”

From 2018 until today, 62 cases were registered by the Uttarakhand Police under the UFRA in the state’s 13 districts.

Court records obtained by The Indian Express show that as of September 2025, only five have gone to full trial. All of them have ended in acquittals; at least seven have been dismissed midway, largely due to complainants turning hostile, a lack of corroboration, and the prosecution’s failure to establish coercion or inducement.

In many cases, bail was granted; the analysis shows, after noting contradictory statements or procedural lapses.

Illustrative of the acquittals of the five cases in which trials were concluded in lower courts, all of which ended in acquittal. Two were on complaints by a third party not directly aggrieved by “conversion.”

Of the two cases filed by a third party, one was filed in February 2021 by Sitaram Ranakoti, a member of the Sainik Samaj Party, in Tehri Garhwal. Ranakoti accused Vinod Kumar of praising Christianity by “criticizing” Hinduism and the caste system, over Facebook videos.

In the other case, the complaint was registered by a third party, involving charges brought against pastor Narendra Singh Bisht and his wife in Nainital’s Ramnagar in October 2021, by the Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad. Members of the organization tore posters with Bible verses and vandalized Bisht’s house, apart from assaulting the gathering, alleging mass conversions.

But in both cases, the evidence produced did not hold up in court, leading to acquittals.

According to The Indian Express, the number of cases filed under the Act has been increasing, especially following the 2022 amendment.

Uttarakhand is one of the 12 states in India that have passed stringent anti-conversion laws to prevent what are known as forced conversions. Most are under BJP governments.

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email [email protected]. To support ICC’s work around the world, please give to our Where Most Needed Fund.