Prayagarj: The Allahabad High Court has flagged several “false, fake, and frivolous FIRs” filed under the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, in Uttar Pradesh, and said there was a “troubling pattern of misuse” of the law by the police and complainants.
A division bench comprising Justice Abdul Moin and Justice Pramod Kumar Srivastava made the observations on April 13 while hearing a petition filed by a Muslim man who was charged in a first information report (FIR) that invoked the anti-conversion law.
The Bahraich Police registered the case against him following a complaint from the father of an 18-year-old woman. The woman’s statement, however, was contradictory to the FIR charges. She stated that she had been in a consensual relationship with the Muslim man for three years.
The bench noted that although the woman spoke before the magistrate, the investigating officer selectively dropped the rape charge and maintained accusations of kidnapping, assault and unlawful religious conversion.
Describing the move as a “peculiar turn,” the court remarked that further inquiry was unjustified with the woman’s clear statements, suggesting the officer might be influenced by external pressure.
The High Court summoned the woman’s father, the complainant as well, asking him to explain why action should not be initiated for lodging a false police complaint.
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