Azamgarh, 29 May: A senior police official said on Monday that 18 individuals had been detained here under Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law for allegedly soliciting money to convert people to Islam.
On Monday, an Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate sentenced the accused to nine days in police custody. On May 21, persons attending a Qawwali festival in Chirkihit hamlet in the Devgaon region of here were reportedly offered money and persuaded to convert to Islam, according to Superintendent Anurag Arya. People were also duped into accepting Islam by emphasising the flaws of Hinduism, he claimed.
When the police stormed the location after receiving a tip, Arya claims that a couple of the suspects fled, taking advantage of the chaos.
The police apprehended 18 people, including the mastermind and two women, and seized seven tridents, portraits of two Muslim religious figures, a harmonium, music, a vehicle, and a tempo from their possession, according to the SP.
Sikander, the conversion bid’s mastermind, was interested in occult practise. He is from Azamgarh but used to reside in a ‘mazar’ in the Bahraich district.
According to the authorities, this was Sikander’s first effort at religious conversion, which he failed. During the inquiry, they discovered that the accused visited the ‘mazars’ in the adjacent Barabanki district.
The police are keeping a careful eye on the ‘mazars’ in Barabanki and Bahraich districts to see whether there have been any similar incidents of religious conversion, according to the SP.
According to the police, individuals arrested are being questioned by investigating authorities, and a special team has been created to look into the incident.
According to the police, a case has been filed under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, which punishes conversions committed by disinformation, coercion, allurement, or other deceptive ways.
