Days after the Uttar Pradesh government enforced the new anti-conversion law to curb the menace of Grooming Jihad (Love Jihad) in the State, the Muzaffarnagar police have registered a case against two accused named Nadeem and Salman on Monday evening. The two are accused of trying to force a married Hindu woman to convert to Islam.
As per reports, the complaint has been registered by one Akshay Tyagi, the husband of the victim. Akshay, a contractor by profession and a resident of Mansoorpur in Muzaffarnagar, used to work as a contractor in Bhagwanpur in Haridwar in Uttarkhand. Co-workers Nadeem and Salman, who happen to be local residents of Bhagwanpur, began visiting his house regularly where he stayed with his wife.
According to Akshay, the duo started luring his wife to leave him and marry one of them. They also started asking her to convert to Islam on multiple occasions and tried to lure her for Nikkah. But Akshay got wind of the matter, and before things go out of hand, he left Bhagwanpur.
Akshay was thus forced to abandon his work and return to his native village in Muzaffarnagar. He was under constant fear that the two accused would convert his wife’s religion and run away with her. He then contacted the Mansoorpur police station where a case was registered against Nadeem and Salman under Section 3/5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020.
Search for the accused continues, police team to visit Bhagwanpur soon
On the basis of the complaint filed by Akshay against Nadeem and Salman, the Mansoorpur police have initiated a probe in the case and have contacted the Haridwar police to trace the absconding men. Inspector Kushal Pal Singh assured that the accused would be arrested soon. He also informed that a team would leave for Bhagwanpur to further investigate the matter.
Grooming Jihad in Bareilly
Earlier, a case was registered against one Ahmed after a family in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh had lodged a complaint with the Deorania police. The accused was also booked under Section 3/5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020. Ever since the case was lodged against him, Ahmed was reported as absconding. As per reports, the accused tried to force a Hindu woman to convert to Islam. When she refused, he began to pressurise the victim and her family. Besides intimidation, he had also threatened to kill the victim and her family for refusal to give in to his demands for conversion. The Deorania police are now making efforts to nab the accused.
Provisions of the new law
The new anti-conversion law is aimed at preventing forced conversions under the pretext of love and marriage. “There were more than 100 incidents reported in which forceful religious conversion was being done. Also, it was reported religious conversions were going on in the state using deceitful means. So to make a law on this becomes an important matter of policy now,” UP Cabinet Minister Siddharth Nath Singh had earlier remarked.
Under the new law, a jail term of 1-5 years is awarded to the accused (extended to 3-10 years in case of SC/STs) and a fine of ₹15,000 (₹25,000 in case of SC/STs). Moreover, the offender’s proven guilty for mass conversion will attract a jail term of 10 years.
