Following governor Anandiben Patel’s directive to all medical, dental colleges and other higher education institutions in the state to establish religious conversion prevention cells (Dharmantaran Roktham Cells), institutions across Uttar Pradesh are gearing up to implement the order on their campuses.
The move has sparked a political debate with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) backing it as necessary to protect students from coercion, while the Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) accuses the government of ignoring more pressing issues in higher education.
The directive follows a series of investigations linked to KGMU over the past two years, in which police registered cases and carried out searches and arrests while probing allegations of organised efforts to influence individuals for religious conversion. The allegations, which remain subject to judicial proceedings, triggered a wider discussion about student safety and institutional accountability.
According to a May 28 letter from the governor’s secretariat, a copy of which is with HT, higher education institutions, including medical institutes and others, have been instructed to strengthen counselling services, monitoring systems, student welfare mechanisms, reporting protocols and establish preventive safeguards after reports of students allegedly being influenced through inducement, psychological pressure or other unethical means (for conversion).
The officer on special duty (additional chief secretary rank) to the governor/chancellor addressed the letter to vice chancellors/directors, all state universities and institutes in Uttar Pradesh.
Institutions have been asked to ensure a safe, secular and academically conducive environment while remaining vigilant against unlawful activities.
Government officials maintain that the objective is not to regulate personal faith but to prevent activities prohibited under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, which criminalises conversions carried out through force, fraud, coercion, undue influence or allurement.
According to the letter sent to the institutes, they need to conduct mentor-mentee sessions and make students aware of this subject. The institutes also need to increase vigil and dialogue along with strengthening anti-radicalisation or student welfare cells, the letter says. Parent-teacher meetings and informal discussions should be conducted to keep tabs on the issues students face, the letter adds.
The campuses should establish counselling centres to facilitate sharing of thoughts by any student under mental pressure or being lured for benefits, the letter says. The security around hostel buildings should also be strengthened and unsolicited people should be avoided, it adds.
It asks for surprise inspections at hostels, apart from awareness. In case any suspicious activity is detected, proactive legal action should be taken and action done under effective anti-conversion rules and laws of the state, it said.
Officials said the directive marks a shift from a largely police-driven response to alleged conversion cases toward a preventive framework where educational institutions become the first line of intervention.
“The focus is on early detection, counselling and student welfare rather than waiting for complaints to reach law-enforcement agencies,” a senior higher education official said.
KGMU spokesperson Prof KK Singh said that the university welcomes the governor’s order. He added that all directions issued by the governor will be implemented in full, and the conversion prevention cell will function in accordance with the prescribed guidelines. He further stated that the office of the dean of student welfare (DSW) had already been constituted to address such matters whenever they arise.
Prof CM Singh, director of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, said the conversion prevention cell will be constituted at the institute in compliance with the governor’s directives.
On June 5, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University directed its affiliated medical, dental, nursing and paramedical institutions to implement the prescribed measures and submit compliance reports. Similar exercises are expected across universities and higher educational institutions throughout the state in the coming weeks.
Prof JP Pandey, vice chancellor, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, said that they have directed the directors of their constituent and affiliated colleges to act on the governors’s directive.
“The university has started the process of constituting the cell while we are also directing the head of colleges to comply with the directives. We already have a counselling cell and regular mentor-mentee conversations at the university level,” Pandey said.
Lucknow University registrar Bhavana Mishra and vice chancellor Prof JP Saini said they will act on the directive.
Prof Yashwant Virodai, spokesperson for the Dr Shakuntala Mishra National Rehabilitation University, said that no such cell is created in the university yet but they will abide by the governor’s directive. BJP state spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, “Of late, several incidents of love jihad have been reported from various educational institutions across the state. The recent KGMU incident is one such glaring example even in medical institutions. The governor’s decision is the right step to check such incidents in educational institutions.”
The Opposition SP, however, questioned the intent behind the exercise and accused the BJP and RSS of contributing to social polarisation.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Abbas Haider said, “If the governor is so concerned, she should first start forming an anti-BJP cell as charity begins at home. Both the BJP and RSS are creating communal divisions.” Haider also argued that authorities should focus on improving medical education infrastructure and facilities.
“The Centre and the state government should also explain how many medical colleges have actually been established and address the shortage of facilities in these institutions,” he said.
“There is a need to ensure that preventive measures remain focused on illegal activities and do not interfere with individual liberties or legitimate social and religious interactions,” said a senior academic at a state university.
