Christians across Mumbai, Thane & Navi Mumbai protest Maharashtra’s Freedom of Religion Bill, calling it a direct assault on Article 25 rights.
Newsroom (11/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) In a rare display of coordinated civic resistance, approximately 7,000 Christians from Catholic, Protestant and other denominations held peaceful demonstrations at 35 locations across Maharashtra on Sunday, November 9, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the state government’s proposed Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill, 2025.
Organised by the Bombay Catholic Sabha (BCS), one of western India’s largest Catholic lay organisations representing over 68,000 believers, the protests transformed church courtyards in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai into spaces of prayerful defiance. Participants carried placards proclaiming “My Faith, My Right,” “Don’t Criminalise Compassion,” “Our Faith, Our Choice – No Interference,” and “Stop the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill.”
Dolphy D’Souza, BCS spokesperson and convener of the protest committee, told reporters the proposed legislation “is a blatant violation of Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees every citizen the freedom to profess, practise and propagate religion.” Speaking to UCA News and local outlets, D’Souza described the bill as “a misnomer – there is no freedom in this so-called Freedom of Religion Bill.”
The Maharashtra government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party–Shiv Sena–NCP alliance, intends to table the bill during the winter session of the legislative assembly commencing in December. Officials claim the legislation is necessary to prevent religious conversions through “force, fraud or allurement.”
Critics, however, contend that the vague wording and sweeping enforcement powers will effectively criminalise voluntary conversions and intimidate legitimate missionary and charitable activities. “A simple prayer meeting or an act of charity could be maliciously portrayed as inducement,” warned Godfrey Pimenta, trustee of the Watchdog Foundation and a prominent civic lawyer who addressed protesters in multiple locations.
The BCS, in its official press statement, cautioned that “every act of kindness could be misinterpreted” under the new law, potentially deterring Christian institutions that run hundreds of schools, hospitals, orphanages and social-service centres serving citizens of all faiths. “Our work is motivated by faith and humanitarian concern, not proselytisation,” the statement read.
Sunday’s demonstrations received notable interfaith support. In Goregaon West, veteran Hindu journalist Neelkanth Paratkar, Gandhian Jayant Diwan, human-rights professor Arvind Nigale, animal-rights activist Mannan Desai and Jamaat-e-Islami convenor Abu Shaikh stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Catholic protesters outside Our Lady of the Rosary Church.
“This government is trying to act like a guru for all religions,” Paratkar declared. “If enacted, this law must be challenged in the Supreme Court.”
Father Austin Norris, parish priest of St. Paul’s Church in Dadar, who led a gathering of 300 parishioners, asserted: “The Constitution explicitly guarantees the right to propagate one’s faith. Laws that demonise minorities or stifle freedom are unconstitutional.”
Several speakers referenced the growing judicial scrutiny of similar anti-conversion laws in other states ruled by the BJP. In May 2024, the Supreme Court stayed proceedings in certain cases under Uttar Pradesh’s 2021 anti-conversion law while observing that several provisions “may seem to be violative of Article 25.” In 2023, the Supreme Court refused to stay a Madhya Pradesh High Court order declaring key sections of that state’s law prima facie unconstitutional.
Catholic theologian Virginia Saldanha pointed out that existing provisions of the Indian Penal Code already penalise coercion or fraud. “This bill is unnecessary and politically motivated to consolidate the Hindu vote bank ahead of civic elections,” she said.
Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Joe Gaikwad, who joined the protest at St. Michael’s Church in Mahim, told Mid-Day: “If any conversion is happening, it is from hate to love, from sinfulness to salvation. This peaceful community is being targeted for political gain.”
Newly elected BCS President Norbert Mendonca announced that the campaign will continue, with the next major awareness event scheduled for November 16 at I.C. Colony, Borivali. “We will network with other religious communities and citizens of goodwill to defend the constitutional right to freedom of conscience,” he pledged.
Civic watchdog Citizens for Justice and Peace, which is leading the ongoing Supreme Court challenge against multiple state anti-conversion laws, warned that Maharashtra’s proposed legislation risks replicating the “chilling effects” already documented in northern states – harassment of interfaith couples, surveillance of minority institutions and and weaponisation of vague terms such as “allurement” and “inducement.”
As Sunday’s protests concluded with hymns and prayers for enlightenment of political leaders, participants made one message unmistakably clear: in a secular democracy, faith is not a crime, compassion is not inducement, and constitutional freedoms are non-negotiable.
- Raju Hasmukh with files form UCA news and https://sabrangindia.in/
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