The Lucknow Sessions Court on Tuesday, September,10 convicted 14 individuals including prominent Islamic cleric Maulana Umar Gautam and Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui in a high-profile conversion case.
The court delivered the verdict under Judge Vivekananda Sharan Tripathi who convicted the accused under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including Sections 417 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153B (imputations assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 121A (conspiracy to wage war), and 123, as well as Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act.
According to the reports, the court will further announce the sentencing on Wednesday, with the possibility of a maximum of life imprisonment or a minimum of ten years.
The case gained significant media attention due to the involvement of renowned Islamic clerics. Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui who is the head of the Shah Waliullah Trust Muzaffarnagar and the chairman of the Global Peace Foundation was arrested in September 2021. He along with three associates was accused of “orchestrating a network that facilitated the mass conversion of Individuals to Islam”.
The Uttar Pradesh ATS announced that Siddiqui’s operations were funded by foreign money, with the probe alleging that more than 57 crores rupees were channelled from trusts of the UK and Gulf countries.
Who is Umar Gautam
Umar Gautam, a resident of Fatehpur born into a Rajput family, had renounced his Hindu faith and converted to Islam in the 1990s. His original name was Shyam Pratap Singh. His wife, Raziya, had changed her name from Rajeshwari. She stated that Umar decided to convert to Islam after meeting his Muslim friend Nasir Khan at Govind Ballabh Pant University, now in Uttarakhand.
Umar Gautam also heads the Islamic Dawah Center which was also accused in this alleged conversion racket. The ATS claims that the conversion racket was a “well-oiled system” which was in operation for over two decades. Reports indicated that the accused incorporated and operated all the above activities through different trusts and organizations in which they used financial incentives to lure would-be converts.
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