Forced Religious conversion: Supreme Court quashes case against SHUATS Vice Chancellor, other officials

The Supreme Court has quashed the criminal proceedings initiated against the Vice Chancellor and other officials of the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Science (SHUATS), Prayagraj, in relation to alleged forced mass religious conversion.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra has quashed the cases registered under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.

Petitions were filed before the Supreme Court by Vice Chancellor Rajendra Bihari Lal, Director Vinod Bihari Lal and other officials of the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Science (SHUATS), accused in an illegal mass religious conversion case.

During a hearing last year, Attorney General for India had informed a division bench of the Supreme Court that no unfair prosecutions were being done under the U.P. Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. AG Venkatramani gave said response on a question being asked by Justice JB Pardiwala if the FIRs under the Act of 2021 were being lodged by aggrieved persons within the meaning of Section 4 and on what grounds.

In December 2023, a vacation bench of the Supreme Court of India had stayed the Allahabad High Court's order directing the Vice Chancellor and other officials of the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Science (SHUATS) to surrender before the court by December 20, 2023.

"No God or true Church or Temple or Mosque would approve such type of malpractices. If someone on his own, have chosen to get him converted to different religion is totally another aspect of the issue. In the instant case prevailing upon a tender mind of a young girl providing gifts, clothings and other physical amenities and then asked her to get her baptised is an unpardonable sin," the high court had ruled.

The FIR, filed in November 2023, alleged that the victim, a lower-middle-class woman, was lured into Christianity through gifts and clothing, with the accused, including the SHUATS VC, allegedly pressuring her to bring other women for conversion and illegal activities. The victim claimed she was also subjected to regular sexual exploitation.

The high court had noted that the victim, influenced by a higher priest, was manipulated into adopting Christianity for the promise of job security. Despite arguments by the accused that the victim fabricated the story in retaliation for her job termination in 2022, the court found the allegations serious and horrifying. Considering the gravity of the charges and the ongoing investigation, the court refused to interfere and ordered the Superintendent of Police, Hamirpur to supervise the investigation by three senior police officers.

UP Police, before the Supreme Court, had vehemently opposed any relief to them alleging that they had received over Rs 34 crores from several foreign countries and used it for illegal conversion. "During the course of Investigation it has been found that the since 2005 around Rs 34,44,54,855.00 has been received in the FCRA account of SHUATS from various countries including USA, Afghanistan, Japan, Libya Iraq, Germany, Canada, Guyana, Uganda, Ethopia, Bahrain, Netherlands, Phillipines, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, Australia, Nepal, Bhutan and Nigeria," it had told top court.

Uttar Pradesh police had informed Supreme Court that Vinod Bihari Lal and Rajendra Bihar Lal, Director, administration and Vice Chancellor respectively, of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Science (SHUATS) at Prayagraj are facing multiple cases, including of mass illegal conversion of marginalised sections of Hindu and Muslim society into Christianity by allurement and use of threats and coercion.

Case Details: RAJENDRA BIHARI LAL AND ANR. v. STATE OF U.P. AND ORS

Judgment Date: October 17, 2025

Bench: Justices Pardiwala and Misra