HC rejects bail of two accused of abduction, unlawful religious conversion

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad High Court has dismissed the bail application of Razmani and Amreen, accused of abduction and unlawful religious conversion of a girl, on Friday.

Justice JJ Munir passed the order while rejecting the plea of the accused that they may be enlarged (released) on bail.

On November 17, 2020, an FIR was lodged by one Praveen Kumar at Jalesar police station of Etah that his daughter went to market but one Mohammed Javed, along with five relatives and two others, abducted his daughter. Later, she was taken to Delhi and was unlawfully converted to Islam.

According to the applicants, Razmani and Amreen, initially they were not named in the FIR but their names were disclosed during investigation by the girl’s father and grandfather. In their statement given to the investigating officer, the girl’s relatives had alleged that the applicants threatened the girl’s grandfather, father and brother to give up the prosecution as the girl had already converted to Islam.

According to the applicants, they were falsely implicated in the case and were not at all connected with the crime.

The victim had not named them in her statement before the magistrate. It was also argued that the applicants live 70 km from the place of the alleged crime.

Later, the court rejected the bail application while relying on the girl’s statement under Section 164 CrPC in which she said that she was abducted in a car and was taken to the Kadkaduma Court, Delhi, where in the presence of some lawyers she was made to sign papers that were in Urdu.

The order in the case was reserved on April 7, 2021 and was delivered on Friday.