HC grants bail to man booked under anti-conversion law

PRAYAGRAJ : The Allahabad high court has granted bail to a man from Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh in an alleged case of abduction, rape and unlawful religious conversion of a woman by marriage. Justice Rahul Chaturvedi passed the order on June 11 while allowing the bail application of Munna Khan. An FIR was registered on March 4, 2021 against Khan and his sister in connection with the alleged abduction, rape and conversion of the woman by marriage.

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court has granted bail to a man from Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh in an alleged case of abduction, rape and unlawful religious conversion of a woman by marriage.

Justice Rahul Chaturvedi passed the order on June 11 while allowing the bail application of Munna Khan.

An FIR was registered at the Kotwali Nagar police station of Mahoba on March 4, 2021 against Khan and his sister in connection with the alleged abduction, rape and conversion of the woman by marriage under sections 3, 5(1) of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020.

The FIR also said the alleged victim and Munna Khan resided in the same locality of Mahoba. The applicant had taken certain obscene photographs and videos of the victim and used them for blackmail to maintain a physical relationship with her for the last four years, it was further alleged in the FIR.

On December 8, 2020, the woman got married to another man and went to Delhi. According to her, she came back from Delhi to Mahoba on February 8, 2021.

Later, the accused abducted her and thereafter, from February 18, 2021 to March 2, 2021, she resided with the applicant/ accused at Orai, along with his sister, where he started compelling her to change her religion, the FIR said.

The applicant’s counsel argued, “The victim resides in the same locality where the applicant resides. In such circumstances, it is un-swallowable proposition that in a small city like Mahoba, she was not aware about the background of the accused.”

Advocates Gayatri Rajput and Dinesh Kumar Singh represented the applicant.