Four Muslim men arrested in an alleged forced religious conversion case under the newly amended law were granted bail by Gujarat High Court on Wednesday after the accused and complainant petitioned for quashing of FIR.
According to media reports, Samir Qureshi, 26, a Vadodara resident was accused by a woman, as per FIR, that he faked his identity and claimed to be Christian on social media and tricked her into marriage. Her complaint also alleged that he raped her. She said the family of Qureshi was also involved in the alleged crime
The police slapped a case under Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2021 against Qureshi and his family naming eight people, including Qureshi’s parents, uncle, sister and cousin. The FIR also used sections of the Indian Penal Code that deal with domestic violence, rape and criminal intimidation.
However, weeks after the FIR, the woman had a different story to tell. According to Deccan Herald, the woman said that she and Qureshi wedded as per Muslim customs in February with the consent of both the families.
The woman told the court that she had filed a police complaint about a “trivial domestic matrimonial issue” that was later amicably resolved.
She alleged that the police twisted the accusations, turning a domestic violence complaint into a case of forced religious conversion and rape, Deccan Herald reported.
“Certain religiopolitical groups intervened in the matter and communalised the said issue by bringing the angle of love-jihad,” the petition quoted in the reports said. “Also, on account of the overzealousness of the police officers involved, facts and offences which were never mentioned or alleged by the informant [the woman] came to be inserted in the FIR.”
Police had arrested seven people in the case— three of them were bailed out in September. Those who were kept in custody included Qureshi and the cleric who solemnized the marriage and two witnesses. They got bail on Wednesday with the court calling it an interim measure until final adjudication on the petition.
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Rushda Fathima Khan is the Staff Reporter for The Cognate.
