The Supreme Court of India, on Feb. 2, issued notices to the government of India and 12 states on a fresh public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), challenging the constitutional validity of the state-level anti-conversion laws.

The states whose anti-conversion laws are being challenged are Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, and Rajasthan.

The NCCI has argued that these impugned anti-conversion laws criminalize voluntary conversion, encourage and incentivize vigilante groups to commit violence against minority communities, and allow arrests of those accused of conversions without due process of the law.

Minority rights advocates and human rights groups have observed that under the garb of the anti-conversion laws, right-wing Hindu nationalists accuse Christians of using surreptitious tactics to convert gullible people. They (the vigilantes) often storm prayer meetings and church gatherings in villages and towns and conduct “reconversion” ceremonies in which Christians are compelled to perform Hindu rituals.

Such pressures on Christians, which also affect Muslims and other religious minorities, are part of what observers describe as a broad program for the “saffronisation” of India, meaning an attempt to impose Hindu values and identity while squeezing out rival faiths.

Constitutionally, India is presently a secular country that allows freedom of religion to practice, preach, and propagate under Articles 21-25.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi clubbed the NCCI matter with other similar petitions related to religious conversion laws. A three-judge bench will hear all the petitions once the states and the government of India file their replies to the notices issued to them, according to a LiveLaw report.

The NCCI comprises 32 member churches, 17 regional Christian councils, 18 all-India organisations, and seven related agencies, and represents about 14 million people in India, predominantly marginalised and tribal Christians.

In December 2025, the Supreme Court issued notices on a petition filed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India challenging the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2025.

The NCCI has challenged all such laws in its petition, arguing that they are discriminatory, arbitrary, and vague.

Rev. Asir Ebenezer of the Church of South India (CSI), who is the General Secretary of the NCCI, said in media reports that the rampant atrocities all over India against the Christian community are going unabated.

“Even approaching the governments have neither curtailed nor stopped the violence against Christians,” he stated. “Even though there are Constitutional guarantees, the anti-conversion bills are cutting at the roots of Freedom of Religion and Beliefs, hence the NCCI has approached the Apex Court of the country.”

Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the NCCI, urged the Supreme Court to stay the operation of the impugned state laws. The Supreme Court bench noted the submissions and directed the Center and the relevant state governments to file their responses within four weeks.

The Supreme Court bench also ordered that the fresh pleas be tagged with similar petitions already pending before the Court. Observing the significance of the matter, the Chief Justice said a three-judge bench would hear the cases together.