Observing that criminal law cannot be a tool to harass innocent citizens, the Supreme Court on Friday (October 17, 2025) quashed several FIRs registered at Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh over alleged offence of "mass religious conversions" of Hindus into Christianity.

In a significant judgment on invocation of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 , a Bench comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra quashed as many as five First Information Reports against several persons including Rajendra Bihari Lal, vice-chancellor of Uttar Pradesh’s Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS).

Justice Pardiwala, who authored a 158-page judgement, found that the FIRs were vitiated by legal infirmities, procedural lapse

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