The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that hoardings restricting the entry of pastors and “converted Christians”, which had been put up in eight villages of the state’s Kanker district, were not unconstitutional, The Indian Express reported.

On October 28, a division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bibhu Datta Guru ruled that the hoardings appeared to have been installed “as a precautionary measure to protect the interest of indigenous tribes and local cultural heritage”.

The court was hearing a petition filed by a resident of the district, Digbal Tandi, who argued that the signs amounted to segregation and discrimination against members of the Christian community, reported Hindustan Times.

Tandi also told the court that the hoardings had created fear among those who had converted to Christianity and religious leaders who have visited these villages before.

He further alleged that the Panchayat Department had instructed villages to adopt resolutions under the slogan “Hamari parampara hamari virasat (our tradition, our heritage)”, which were being misused to prohibit Christians.

The petitioner claimed that the hoardings and circulars misused provisions of the 1996 Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, to promote religious discrimination and hostility against Christians, reported Hindustan Times.

The list of villages in the petition are Kudal, Parvi, Junwani, Ghota, Ghotiya, Havechur, Musurputta and Sulangi, according to The Times of India.

Representing the state, Additional Advocate General YS Thakur told the court that the Gram Sabhas had acted within their powers under the 1996 Act, which empowers them to protect local cultural heritage and community practices, The Indian Express reported.

He added that the hoardings were “only meant to prevent only for the limited purpose of prohibiting only those pastors of the Christian religion belonging to other villages who are entering the village for the purpose of illegal conversion of the tribal peoples”.

Thakur claimed that incidents like the rioting in 2023 in Narayanpur, where a church was desecrated and police officers were assaulted, had prompted communities to act cautiously.

The bench, referring to the Supreme Court order in Rev. Stanislaus vs State of Madhya Pradesh, said that while Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees the freedom to profess and propagate religion, it does not extend to converting others by force or inducement, The Times of India reported.

“Religious conversion, when voluntary and spiritual, is a legitimate exercise of conscience,” Hindustan Times quoted the court as saying. “However, when it becomes a calculated act of exploitation disguised as charity, it undermines both faith and freedom.”

The court described conversions by inducement as a “social menace that threatens the unity and cultural continuity of India’s indigenous communities”.

It also said that the petitioner had not exhausted available legal remedies before approaching the High Court and disposed of the petition.

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