6 FIRs in 5 districts, 29 booked under UP’s anti-conversion law

Within a week of the promulgation of the new law against forced and dishonest conversions in Uttar Pradesh, six FIRs have been registered under it in five districts, police officials said on Sunday. The law was promulgated through an ordinance on November 28.

Ten people, out of the 29 people booked under this new law, have been arrested in two of the cases registered in Sitapur and Bareilly districts since Wednesday, the officials said.

A senior police official said seven people have been arrested in the FIR registered with Tambaur police station of Sitapur district while one arrest was made in the first FIR registered at Devraniya police station of Bareilly district.

Meanwhile, Moradabad police on Friday arrested a Muslim man and his brother under the new law when he visited the registrar’s office to record his marriage to a Hindu woman. According to an agency report, Moradabad’s Kanth station house officer Ajay Gautam said the two men were arrested based on a complaint by the woman’s parents.

“In the Sitapur case, the FIR of the elopement of a 19-year-old girl was registered on November 26 and the provisions of new ordinance were added to it later. The girl’s father stated in the FIR that his daughter was kidnapped by a Muslim youth to compel her for marriage. He later stated that the girl was kidnapped to force her to convert her religion,” he said.

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Another official at DGP headquarters said the first two cases under this law were registered in Bareilly on November 28 and 29.

Additional director general (ADG), Bareilly zone, Avinash Chandra had earlier confirmed that the first FIR was registered at Devraniya police station of Bareilly.

In the first FIR, one Tikaram Rathore of Sharifnagar village had accused Owaish Ahmad for mounting pressure on his daughter to convert her religion. The accused was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 504 for insulting person and 506 for criminal intimidation as well as section 3/5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020. Ahmad was arrested on Wednesday.

The second FIR was registered at Izzat Nagar police station of Bareilly in which one Tahir Hussain and his brothers Sageer and Munna were accused of forceful religious conversion. The complaint was lodged by a woman who married Tahir around a year ago.

Another FIR under the new law was registered against 14 people in Mau district after a woman eloped with a Muslim man, who is already married. The FIR was registered against one Shabab Khan and 13 others under IPC sections 366, 506 and 3/5 of new law at Chiraiyakot police station on Tuesday.

Yet another FIR was lodged at Mansoorpur police station of Muzaffarnagar district on Thursday wherein two Muslim men were booked for allegedly trying to force a married Hindu woman to convert. They were booked under the new law as well as under sections 504 (criminal intimidation), 506 and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

The new ordinance aims to check religious conversions carried out by “allurement, coercion, force, fraud, or marriage.” Violations of the law have been made cognizable and non-bailable offence.