Kanpur: Teen accused of religious conversion held

KANPUR: The police arrested a teenager, who along with two others was accused of forced religious conversion, on Sunday.
The arrest was made on the complaint of a local resident on whose allegations, locals had paraded an e-rickshaw-puller through the streets and publicly assaulted him on August 11.
Police are on the lookout for two others who are on the run including a relative of the e-rickshaw puller. Before the August 11 incident, a complaint of molestation and SC/ST act was lodged against the accused.
To recall, a woman resident of Kacchi Basti eight had accused three neighbors including a 16-year-old minor, besides Saddam and one Mukul of molesting her daughter and getting her converted for 20 thousand rupees.
The police had registered a case on July 31, but in the absence of evidence during preliminary investigation, the police did not file a section of conversion in the FIR.
In protest against this, the local activists later created a ruckus at Ram Gopal crossing in Kachchi Basti in Barra on Wednesday evening.
When Afsar, a relative of one among the molesters passed by with a seven-year-old girl, the activists who were creating a ruckus dragged and thrashed him severely. Later, a video of the incident also went viral. In the video, Afsar’s minor daughter was seen desperately trying to save and clinging to him. Later, the police rescued Afsar and brought him to the police station.
The Barra police had filed an FIR against a local man, who runs a marriage band, his son and around 10 unknown people, based on a complaint by the assaulted man Afsar Ahmed.
Police had later informed that the three main accused were arrested late August 12 night in connection with the August 11 evening incident of assault and humiliation with Afsar Ahmed, an E rickshaw-driver, in the Barra area of the City. On August 13, three more persons were arrested while three accused arrested earlier were granted bail.
Inspector Barra Harmeet Singh said that a 16-year-old teenager accused in the molestation case has been taken into custody and after being produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, has been sent to the Children’s Shelter Home. “Searches for two other accused in the case, Mukul and Saddam, are underway,” he added.