Freedom of religion (Articles 25–28): your rights and how to use them
What Articles 25 to 28 guarantee to believers and non-believers, the limits the State can impose, conversion rules, and what to do if your freedom is violated.
In short
- Art 25 gives every person in India, citizen or not, freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practise and propagate religion. That includes the right to follow no religion.
- The right is subject to public order, morality, health and other fundamental rights, and the State can regulate the secular side of religious activity and open public Hindu temples to all Hindus.
- No one can force you to attend religious instruction or worship in a State-recognised or aided school, and no State-funded school may give religious instruction (Art 28).
- Insulting a place of worship or deliberately outraging religious feelings is a crime (Secs 298, 299, 302 BNS); honest criticism or scholarship is not.
- If your freedom is violated: write it down, call 112 for violence, complain in writing to the institution, then the Minorities Commission, legal aid (15100) or the High Court.
Whether you pray five times a day, visit a temple only on festivals, attend church on Sundays or prefer not to believe, the Constitution protects your choice. The same articles that protect your faith protect your neighbour's, and they let the State step in when religion is used to harm others.
What the Constitution guarantees
- Art 25: every person has freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion. "Conscience" covers your inner beliefs, including unbelief.
- Art 26: every religious denomination may manage its own religious affairs, set up religious and charitable institutions, and own and administer property in accordance with law.
- Art 27: no one can be compelled to pay a tax whose proceeds are specifically used to promote a particular religion.
- Art 28: no religious instruction in institutions wholly maintained by State funds. In schools recognised or aided by the State, no one can be made to attend religious instruction or worship without their consent, or, for a minor, a guardian's consent.
These rights belong to "all persons", so they protect foreigners in India as well as citizens.
The limits the law allows
Art 25 itself makes religious freedom subject to public order, morality, health and the other fundamental rights. The State may also regulate the economic, financial, political or other secular activities associated with religious practice, make laws for social welfare and reform, and throw open Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus. Courts have drawn the lines case by case:
- In the Shirur Mutt case (Commissioner, Hindu Religious Endowments v. Lakshmindra Thirtha Swamiar, 1954) the Supreme Court held that protection extends to practices that are an essential part of a religion, as judged by that religion's own doctrines.
- In Bijoe Emmanuel v. State of Kerala (1986) the Court protected three Jehovah's Witness children expelled for standing respectfully but not singing the national anthem, which their faith forbade.
- In Rev. Stainislaus v. State of Madhya Pradesh (1977) the Court held that the right to propagate religion does not include a right to convert another person by force, fraud or inducement, and upheld state laws against such conversion.
- In the Sabarimala case (Indian Young Lawyers Association v. State of Kerala, 2018) the Court held that excluding women of menstruating age from the temple violated their rights; review petitions led to a reference to a larger bench, which as of 2026 has not been finally decided.
Changing your religion
You are free to choose and change your own religion; that is part of Art 25. Several states have laws on religious conversion. They typically punish conversion by force, fraud, allurement or coercion, and some require the person converting, and sometimes the priest, to give advance notice to the District Magistrate, with penalties for not doing so. The notice periods and penalties differ from state to state, and several of these laws have been challenged in the courts. If you plan to convert, or to marry across religions, check the rules in your state with an advocate first, and keep a copy of any declaration you file.
When religion and crime meet
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) has a chapter on offences relating to religion:
- Sec 298 BNS (earlier Sec 295 IPC): destroying, damaging or defiling a place of worship or sacred object with intent to insult a religion.
- Sec 299 BNS (earlier Sec 295A IPC): deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class.
- Sec 302 BNS (earlier Sec 298 IPC): uttering words or making gestures with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings.
Each of these requires deliberate intent. Scholarly criticism, satire of a religious practice, or an unintended hurt is not, by itself, a crime. Preventing a person from entering a public temple on the ground of caste is separately punishable under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955.
Step by step: if your freedom is violated
- Write down what happened the same day: date, place, people involved, exact words, witnesses. Keep photographs or recordings if it is safe.
- For violence, threats or damage to a place of worship, call 112 and lodge a complaint at the nearest police station. Ask for a free copy of the FIR. If the station refuses, send the complaint in writing to the Superintendent of Police.
- For discrimination by a school, hostel, office or hospital, write to its head, citing Art 25 or Art 28, and keep the acknowledgement. Escalate to the education department, the employer's grievance officer or the regulator.
- For hate speech, report to the police; if online, also to the platform and cybercrime.gov.in.
- Complain to a commission. Members of notified minority communities can approach the National Commission for Minorities or their State Minorities Commission; anyone can approach the NHRC for violations by officials.
- Go to court. With a lawyer or legal aid (15100), file a writ petition in the High Court under Art 226; the Supreme Court can be moved under Art 32.
Mariam's son studies in a government-aided school. The new principal made morning worship compulsory and marked children absent if they stood outside. Mariam did not pull her son out. She wrote to the principal, quoting Art 28(3), saying her son would stand respectfully but would not take part, and asked that his attendance not be affected. The principal refused. She sent the same letter, with his reply, to the District Education Officer and the school's management committee, and kept the receipts. The education officer issued a written direction to the school within two weeks, and the compulsory marking stopped.
Keep these ready
- Your dated written account of the incident and names of witnesses
- Photographs, video or messages showing the threat, damage or discrimination
- Copies of complaints to the police or institution, with acknowledgements
- FIR copy, if registered
- For conversion matters: your declaration or notice to the District Magistrate, and its acknowledgement
Two myths cause trouble. First, that religious freedom lets you do anything in the name of faith: it does not override public order, health or another person's rights. Second, that "hurt sentiments" alone make something a crime: Secs 299 and 302 BNS require a deliberate and malicious intent to outrage, which is why honest debate and scholarship are protected.
Where to go
- Emergency, violence or threats: 112; the local police station, then the Superintendent of Police.
- Online hate or threats: cybercrime.gov.in, helpline 1930.
- Discrimination by an institution: its head, then the education department or regulator; grievances against government bodies at pgportal.gov.in.
- Commissions: National Commission for Minorities (ncm.nic.in) or your State Minorities Commission; NHRC (hrcnet.nic.in, helpline 14433).
- Free legal aid: 15100, your District Legal Services Authority, nalsa.gov.in.
- Courts: High Court under Art 226; Supreme Court under Art 32.
Common questions
Can my school or employer force me to take part in a prayer or religious ceremony?
A school wholly funded by the State cannot give religious instruction at all, and a State-recognised or aided school cannot make you (or your child, without your consent) attend religious instruction or worship: Art 28. Government employers are bound by Art 25. A private employer is not directly bound by fundamental rights, but you can decline on grounds of conscience and any penalty may be challenged as unfair under labour law.
Is it legal to change my religion in India?
Yes. Choosing and changing your own faith is part of freedom of conscience under Art 25. What the law prohibits is converting someone else by force, fraud, allurement or coercion. Several states also require advance notice to the District Magistrate before a conversion, with penalties for skipping it, so check the procedure in your state and keep proof of compliance.
Is criticising a religion a crime?
Not by itself. Secs 299 and 302 BNS punish only acts and words done with deliberate and malicious intent to outrage or wound religious feelings. Courts have repeatedly held that academic criticism, satire and unintended offence fall outside these sections. Speech that promotes enmity between religious groups can, however, be an offence under Sec 196 BNS.
This article is general information for awareness, not legal advice. For your situation, consult an advocate or call free legal aid at 15100.
