First case registered under anti-conversion law in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly

BAREILLY/LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh has registered its first case under the new anti-conversion law in Bareilly's Deonaria police station.

The case registered on Saturday evening was filed on the basis of the complaint lodged by one Tikaram, a resident of Sharifnagar village, under Section 504 and 506 of IPC and Section 3/5 of Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 (Uttar Pradesh Vidhi Virudh Dharm Parivartan Pratishedh Ordinance-2020) against one Uvaish Ahmad who had allegedly been stalking his daughter for quite some time. The accused had allegedly been forcing Tikarma’s daughter to convert and marry him.

As per the complainant, Ahmad had developed a relationship with his daughter and had been trying to “coerce, coax and allure” her to convert to Islam so that he could get the ‘Nikah’ solemnised with her. However, accused Uvaish has been absconding.

As per the sources, the girl and the accused knew each other since childhood and had been schoolmates till Standard XII. After completing school, the girl took admission at a local college for higher studies but Uvaish allegedly continued to stalk her.

The sources claimed that the girl used to complain often that Uviash was pressuring her for converting into Islam and get married to him for a year. Initially, the girl tried to avoid him fearing disrepute but when she consistently refused his advances, Unvaish started threatening her with abduction, added the sources.

The sources further claimed that the girl’s parents also tried to persuade Uvaish to leave their daughter but when he did not mend his ways, they married her (victim) off to someone else in June, earlier this year. Even then, Uvaish continued to harass the girl’s parents and used to misbehave with them every now and then.

As per complainant Tikaram, Uvaish came to his house on Saturday and started misbehaving with the family. He was asking the girl’s parents to call her back from her in-laws' place. He was insisting on getting married to her after converting her to Islam. Uvaish even allegedly handed out death threats to the girl’s family.

“Despite repeated disapprovals by me and my family, he (the boy) was not listening and was mounting pressure on me and my family through abuses and death threats to fulfill his desire,” alleged Tikaram in his complaint.

He reached the Deonaria police station at around 8 on Saturday night and narrated the incident to the police officials who at around 11 pm, registered a case under the provisions of Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 against Uvaish Ahmad and raided his house to nab him but he had already fled.

Confirming the registration of a case against Uvaish Ahmad under the new anti-conversion ordinance, Bareilly SP, Rural, Sansar Singh claimed that the efforts were on to net the accused.

The ordinance makes religious conversion a cognizable and non-bailable offense inviting penalties up to 10 years in prison if found to be effected for marriage or through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement, or other allegedly fraudulent means.

Violation of the provisions of the law would invite a jail term of not less than one year extendable to five years with a fine of ₹15,000. However, if a minor, a woman, or a person belonging to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes communities was converted through the said unlawful means, the jail term would be a minimum of three years and could be extended to 10 years with a fine of ₹25,000.

The ordinance also lays down strict action against mass conversions, which would invite a jail term of not less than three years and up to 10 years and a fine of ₹50,000.