Lucknow, Dec. 9 -- Coming down heavily on the police for overreach in a religious conversion case, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has observed that distributing the Bible and preaching religion is not a crime. The court sought a reply from the state authorities on various points in the matter.

A division bench of Justice Abdul Moin and Justice Babita Rani passed the order recently on a petition filed by Ram Kewal Bharati and other persons. They sought directives to quash an FIR registered under Sections 352, 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 and Sections 3 and 5(1) of the U.P. Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 lodged on August 17, 2025 against them at the Dhammaur police station of Sultanpur...