UP: Bulandshahr Police to act against ‘missing’ boy’s uncle for filing false case under anti-conversion law

BULANDSHAHR police have decided to take action against a Dalit man for filing a false case under the anti-conversion law.

Police said that the 46-year-old had got an FIR registered on Thursday alleging that his minor nephew, who had gone missing for the second time in a month, was converted to Islam by a group of “unidentified people”.

Police in their investigation, however, traced the boy to his aunt’s house in Jalandhar. The boy, who was living with his uncle after his parents died seven years ago, denied that he had converted to Islam and told police that he fled from his uncle’s home as he used to regularly harass and beat him.

“We traced the boy to his relative’s house in Jalandhar in Punjab. In his statement to the police, he denied having converted to Islam and said that he had left home after his uncle thrashed him. He also accused his uncle of harassing him to take his share of the parental property of eight bighas land,” said SSP (Bulandshahr) Santosh Kumar Singh.

On Friday, police got the boy’s statement recorded before a magistrate. Police said that during medical examination, doctors ascertained the boy’s age around 18 years.

“Action will be taken against the boy’s uncle as he has been found involved in circulating false story of conversion,” said the SSP.

This is the second time in a month when the allegation of the Dalit boy’s conversion to Islam circulated on social media.

According to police, the boy had fled from his house a month ago, leading to rumours of him converting to Islam.
“Police had then found the boy. After the boy denied the allegation of conversion, he was handed over to Child Welfare Committee (CWC). The boy later returned to his uncle’s house,” said Circle Officer (Bulandshahr) Sangram Singh.

The officer said that two days ago, the boy went missing again and his uncle got an FIR registered on Thursday against unidentified people accusing them of converting his nephew to Islam. A photo of him wearing ‘pyjama-kurta’ also went viral on social media. “During questioning, the boy told us that his uncle circulated the false story of his conversion with the help of his associates,” said a police officer.

When asked about his photo wearing pyjama-kurta, the SSP said, “The boy told us he used to wear such kind of clothes since childhood and so far no one objected to it.”