Anti-conversion law: 76 held in Uttar Pradesh so far

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh police has lodged 49 FIRs against at least 128 people ever since the Yogi Adityanath government passed the anti-conversion law, the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, about seven months ago.
Chargesheets have been filed in 22 cases, 76 people have been arrested and investigations are underway in 24 cases. In three cases, police have filed final report after the charges were found to be baseless.“Senior officers are monitoring investigations in all the cases pertaining to illegal conversions. Police officials have been directed to initiate action on the basis of evidence,” additional director general (ADG), law and order, Prashant Kumar said.
“We are maintaining a record of cases related to illegal conversions. In three cases, no evidence was found against 16 accused after which a final report was filed,” said Kumar. The ADG said the respective district police chiefs have been directed to expedite 24 FIRs in which investigation is pending.
Maximum of 12 FIRs were registered in Meerut zone, followed by Bareilly (10). Noida police commissionerate has the best disposal rate with completion of probe in four out of total five cases.
Kanpur police zone is the only zone in the state which has not recorded a single FIR for illegal conversion.
Meanwhile, in a first of its kind action in such a case, police attached the properties of a Sitapur resident, Zubrail, who was booked under the law in December last year. The accused, who was declared a proclaimed offender, is on the run since then.