On 6th March, a man named Mohammad Anees Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur was sentenced to life imprisonment in a case of traping a Hindu woman by hiding his identity and converting her to Islam. The man has been convicted by a SC/ST court in Bulandshahr under the Religious Conversion Act, SC/ST Act and relevant sections of the IPC. The Special SC/ST Act Court also imposed a fine of Rs 4.56 lakh on the convict.
This is the first case of life term under the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act of Uttar Pradesh.
Mohammad Anees Ahmed had masqueraded as Hindu man Akash and tricked a Dalit woman from Mangolpuri, Delhi into befriending him. Around eight months back, he took her to the Gulaothi area of Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahar and started living with her in a rented home. He repeatedly had physical relations with her there under the pretext of marriage.
The offender then exposed his true religious identity and forcefully converted her to Islam as well as gave her a new name, Ayesha. After some time, he abandoned her and left the place. He also stole Rs 2.50 lakh and gold jewellery from her before leaving. The victim tried to call him to know the reason behind his actions but he hurled casteist abuses at her and claimed, “I cannot marry you because you are a chamar,” and disconnected the phone.
The complaint in this regard was submitted on 27th April 2022. The police filed a charge sheet in the court. The trial was carried out by the Monitoring Cell Bulandshahr in the High Court whereby five witnesses were questioned against the accused, marking this prosecution under the campaign “Operation Conviction” which is being run by the state’s Director General of Police.
The public prosecutor informed, “The chargesheet was submitted in Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) court after consideration. The case was registered on 15th March 2022. The female belongs to the SC/ST community while the culprit is a Muslim. The accused deceived the woman by pretending to be a Hindu, brought her to Gulaothi and later disclosed his true identity to her. He changed her religion and started calling her Ayesha. He then left her after taking her money and gold chain.”
#watch: SC/ST court sentenced a Muslim youth to life term for forced conversion of Hindu girl. This is the first case under the Religious Conversion Act where the guilty has been sentenced to life term. pic.twitter.com/c1UDLI6nPa
— IANS (@ians_india) March 6, 2024
The counsel added, “Sections 376(2), 420 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code as well as 3, 2 and 5 of the SC/ST Act and 3/5 unlawful religious conversion act were involved against the perpetrator. He was pronounced guilty under all the charges and was given life imprisonment which means until his last breath and a penalty of Rs 4.56 lakhs of which Rs 3.50 lakh will be provided to the victim. This is the first case of this nature where a convict is penalised for religious conversion.”
The Additional Superintendent of Police informed that police lodged the chargesheet in a little over a month and the authorities conducted a swift investigation. The police produced the witnesses in court on due dates. The statement of the doctor who performed a medical examination on the victim was obtained through video conferencing as she had gone to Bengaluru for her postgraduate course and couldn’t physically appear in court. He added that it was a very rare punishment after the implementation of the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020.
