Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui has been sent to police remand for ten days after more than three hours of interrogation and arguments from both sides at the Special Court in Lucknow today, Advocate Abubakr Sabbaq informed The Cognate.
Until yesterday, the court had denied the request of ATS to send him to police custody.
Speaking with The Cognate, Adv Sabbaq refuted the allegations against Maulana Siddiqui and said, “ATS doesn’t have any established evidence that can prove the allegations against the prominent scholar”.
Adv Sabbaq, representing Maulana Siddiqui in the case said, “The allegation levelled against my clients is of getting funds from foreign, then the income tax department and ED (Enforcement Directorate) should investigate the matter, conversion has nothing to do with this.”
He said, “As far as ‘Dawah’ (Preaching) is concerned, Article 25 of the Indian Constitution provides the freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion to all its citizens. This is a guaranteed fundamental right of every citizen”.
He further added that the ATS had produced Maulans’s YouTube channel as evidence, however, these were already in the public domain for learning.
“There is nothing in the videos that can prove that he was forcefully trying to convert anyone. Preaching is not a crime, this is just an attempt to criminalize Muslims of various levels”, the lawyer asserted.
The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had arrested Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui from Meerut over allegations of “illegal conversion” on Tuesday night.
A statement released by ATS on Wednesday accused Siddiqui and his disciples of running a “conversion syndicate” and “getting funds from abroad illegally”.
The ATS has also accused the Islamic scholar of distributing free literature to ‘misguide non-Muslims into accepting Islam’.
Apart from all the allegations, the ATS claims that Maulana possessed seven sim cards and a mobile phone, which is now in their custody and will be sent for further investigation.
Along with Maulana Siddiqui, four of his students were also arrested. Out of four, two were released on the same day and the other two are still in the custody of ATS.
Over the last three months, the ATS has arrested at least nine people in connection with alleged “illegal conversion” and has booked them under IPC’s Sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) 153 B (imputation, asserting prejudicial to national integration), 295 (injuries or defiling place of worship). Some people have also been booked under Uttar Pradesh’s Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act.
On June 20, Maulana Mohammad Umar Gautam and Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi were also arrested for allegedly converting people into Islam luring them for job money and marriage.
The arrest of 64-year-old prominent Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui is the latest in that list while he was returning home at night from an event in Meerut’s Humayun Nagar, Lisari Gate, on the invitation of the Imam of Masjid Mashallah.
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Ghazala Ahmad is the Delhi Correspondent for The Cognate.
