New Delhi, Aug. 18 -- The Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act will be implemented this Rakshabandhan, August 28, this year. The state government has issued a gazette notification to this effect.

The Freedom of Religion Bill received presidential assent from President Droupadi Murmu on July 31.

With this, Maharashtra becomes the 13th state in the country to pass such a law, popularly called the anti-conversion law. These are Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

What does the Act entail

The Act prohibits unlawful religious conversions through any of these devices: allurement, misrepresentation, force, undue influence,...