In UP’s Mau, Police Books 14 People Under New Anti-Conversion Law

According to the FIR, Khan & accomplices had allegedly abducted the complainant’s daughter a day before her wedding.

(Illustration: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

The Uttar Pradesh police on Friday, 4 December, booked fourteen people in Mau district under the state’s new anti-conversion law, reported news agency PTI.

According to the report, the police have booked a 38-year-old man named Shadab Khan, also known as Rahul, and 13 of his acquaintances, under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 as well as other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the FIR lodged at Chiraiyakot Police Station, Khan, who is said to be married, along with others, had allegedly abducted the complainant’s 27-year-old daughter on the eve of her marriage, with the intention of converting. 

The complainant, a resident of Molnaganj village, had first filed a complaint with the police, following which an FIR was registered.

Interfaith Wedding Stopped in Lucknow

The arrest comes after after the Uttar Pradesh police swung into action to implement the controversial ‘unlawful conversion’ law, even going to the extent of stopping a interfaith wedding in Lucknow, allegedly for the lack of the District Magistrate’s permission, as is required under the law.

According to The Indian Express, the wedding between a Muslim boy and a Hindu girl was stopped by the police in Para area of the state capital, allegedly after complaints from Hindu groups.

The report says that the wedding was stopped on d-day, even through parents from both sides had consented to the marriage, which was supposed to take place according to Hindu rituals. 

Police say both the families have agreed to wait for the DM’s order.

First Arrests in Bareilly

On 3 December, the first two arrests were made under the new law passed by the UP government against unlawful conversion, both of which were in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district.

21-year Owais Ahmad was arrested on Wednesday, 3 December, for allegedly pressuring a Hindu woman to convert to Islam, reported The Indian Express.

According to the report, Ahmad also threatened the girl’s parents, after they raised objections over the alleged forceful conversion.

Second Arrest

According to the Hindustan Times report, an FIR was filed on Monday, 30 November, against a man identified as Tahir Hussain and his brothers, Sagir and Munna under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance.

According to the FIR, the accused Tahir Hussain was in a relationship with the woman of Hindu religion.

According to the girl’s family the couple got married in a temple and later started living together. When the woman was impregnated in November. Hussain and his brother assaulted her on 20 November, resulting in an abortion.

The girl’s family has alleged that Hussain assaulted her resulting in her miscarriage. An FIR under Indian Penal Code (IPC) 506 and 313 have been lodged against the accused.

The girl further alleged that Hussain approached her on the pretext of being a Hindu. She claims that Hussain had created his Facebook ID under the name of “Kunal Sharma”.

“Hussain used to follow me everywhere, somehow he got my contact number and started calling me, he once entered my home too and threatened my family. When I said that I will lodge a complaint against him, he said that he wants to marry me, we eventually got married in a temple and started living together, I later got pregnant and he asked me to abort the child, I refused to do so.”

Victim’s version

The girl further claims that Hussain revealed his real identity much later and asked her to convert into Islam.

“He said that if I want to stay with him, then I have to marry him as a Muslim,” the girl alleged.

The FIR was registered in Izzat Nagar police station and the investigation is underway, reported Hindustan Times.

(With inputs from PTI ,The Indian Express and HT)