UP cleric tricks woman to convert, booked

VARANASI: Badesar police in Ghazipur district lodged FIR against a cleric after a woman from Ballia alleged he forced her to undergo religious conversion under the guise of performing an exorcist ritual to dispel an evil spirit.
Ghazipur ASP (rural) Atul Kumar Sonkar stated on Sunday that police registered a case under sections 295A (attempt to insult the religion of any class), 509 (acts or gestures intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and sections 3, 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act.A detailed investigation had been initiated by Badesar police in the case, he said, adding that further action would be taken soon based on the outcome of the investigation.
Police reported that the complainant, a woman from Narahi area in Ballia district, was married to Bharat Singh of Beswan in Ballia district on May 2, 2021. A cleric, Shan Ahmed, used to visit her in-laws' home and also frequented the ‘Mata Darbar' in the Badesar area of Ghazipur, where he performed exorcist rituals. During his visits earlier this year, Ahmed claimed the woman was possessed by evil spirit and asked her in-laws to bring her to his ‘darbar'.
As her in-laws were influenced by the cleric, they repeatedly encouraged her, and her husband took her to the cleric on Mar 18. She alleged that in his fully fortified building, the cleric behaving indecently with her and by abusing deities, started forcing her to embrace Islam. She further alleged that there were more women and girls inside the fort and they were being forced to convert too or had already been converted.