India, Sept. 12 -- A petition has been filed before the Bombay High Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act, 2026, arguing that while the state may legitimately enact measures to prevent conversion brought about by force, fraud, coercion, or other means that vitiate free and informed consent, some of the Act's provisions "travel beyond this permissible objective".

The petition, filed by a 70-year-old Islamic scholar, Maulana Halimullah Farooque Ahemed Khan, says the Act impermissibly infringes the constitutionally protected rights to dignity, privacy, individual autonomy, freedom of conscience, religious liberty and secularism. It adds that the Act is liable to be struck down on the ground...