On Friday (24th November), a Maulvi was arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad for coercing a Hindu woman to convert to Islam under the pretext of getting rid of ‘evil powers’ and ‘ghosts’.
The arrested Islamic cleric has been identified as Sarfaraz. As per reports, the accused confessed to coercing non-Muslims into converting to Islam. The accused Maulvi was arrested after the 45-year-old victim’s son Akshay Srivastava lodged a complaint against Maulvi Sarfaraz at the Nandgram Police Station.
Akshay told the police that his mother Meenu has been suffering from physical and mental illnesses since 2017 and is undergoing treatment. During this time, some people suggested Akshay take his mother to Maulvi Sarfaraz and seek his assistance in getting his mother cured.
पुलिस कमिश्नरेट गाजियाबाद पुलिस टीम द्वारा धर्मपरिवर्तन कराने की साजिश का खुलासा करते हुए 01 अभियुक्त को किया गया गिरफ्तार ।@Uppolice pic.twitter.com/p5eX2hTxwD
— POLICE COMMISSIONERATE GHAZIABAD (@ghaziabadpolice) November 24, 2023
In his complaint, Akshay Srivastava accused Maulvi Sarfaraz of proselytising his mother with the fear of ghosts. According to the complainant, his mother removed idols and portraits of Hindu gods and goddesses from her home at the 36-year-old maulvi’s command and even pressured her children and other family members to convert to Islam.
The accused Maulvi told the victim that his treatment would not be effective if she continued to follow her Hindu religion, he stressed that she convert to Islam and only then her health would improve. According to ACP Nandgram Ravi Kumar Singh, the maulvi was apprehended near the Morti village tri-section.
Sarfraz told police during interrogation that a few years ago he had performed the Haj pilgrimage and after that, he had been conducting exorcism in the area for the last eight years and had forced people with illnesses to convert to Islam out of fear of ghosts, according to Singh.
पुलिस कमिश्नरेट गाजियाबाद पुलिस टीम द्वारा धर्मपरिवर्तन कराने की साजिश का खुलासा करते हुए 01 अभियुक्त को किया गया गिरफ्तार ।
— POLICE COMMISSIONERATE GHAZIABAD (@ghaziabadpolice) November 24, 2023
बाइट-एसीपी नन्दग्राम@Uppolice https://t.co/QXwd8TztoE pic.twitter.com/hgimFMnIcv
Accused Maulvi Sarfaraz was charged under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act and the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, ACP Singh added.
Taking to X, Ghaziabad Police informed about the accused Maulvi’s arrest in the conversion conspiracy and wrote, “01 accused was arrested by Police Commissionerate Ghaziabad police team while disclosing the conspiracy of religious conversion.”
