Conversion Racket Case | Supreme Court Allows Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui's Travel To Muzaffarnagar For Brother's Funeral; Restrains Him From Giving Speeches

The court has been hearing a plea filed by the Uttar Pradesh government against the Allahabad High Court’s decision to grant bail to Siddiqui, who was arrested for allegedly running a conversion syndicate in the state. Today, a bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose, Sanjay Kumar, and SVN Bhatti agreed to urgently hear his application seeking permission to travel to his ancestral village to attend his brother’s funeral.

When the plea was orally mentioned before the court in the morning, initially, the Justice Bose-led bench said that it would hear the application tomorrow. But on being informed that Siddiqui’s brother’s funeral was scheduled to be held today, the court acceded to his request for an urgent hearing in the afternoon.

Later in the day, in the presence of UP Additional Advocate General Garima Prashad, the apex court granted Siddiqui permission to travel to his native village in Falut in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district for the sole purpose of attending his brother's funeral, despite the bail condition preventing his entry into the state. At the same time, the bench cautioned that the embattled cleric is not to take part in any political activity, nor any social activity apart from those connected with the funeral of his brother, during his stay in Uttar Pradesh. He has also been restrained from delivering any speech there -

"The main matter is pending before us with a direction that the applicant shall remain in Delhi and not enter the State of Uttar Pradesh except for attending the trial or meeting his investigating officer. The present application has been preferred seeking a one-time modification of the order, on account of his brother's death. The funeral is to take place today itself. Considering the reason for which the applicant wants the lifting of the temporary restraint order on his entry into Uttar Pradesh, we permit him to go to his native village, which we are apprised in the course of the hearing, is Fulat, Muzaffarnagar. He will be permitted to go there for the purpose of attending the funeral and thereafter he must return to his present place of residence in Delhi. We also make it clear that the applicant shall not participate in any political or social activities while in UP, barring activities connected with the funeral, and he shall not deliver any speech while in Uttar Pradesh."

On the last occasion, the court asked the UP government to indicate the specific role attributed to the Islamic cleric in running the alleged mass conversion racket and the material before the high court that formed the basis of its bail order. The state government, through its additional advocate general, strongly objected to Siddiqui being granted bail, alleging that he was the key conspirator in a network of operatives working towards the objective of waging war against the Indian Constitution and replacing it with Sharia law.

The hearing of the state government’s plea against the bail order has been adjourned until September 5.

Background

Kaleem Siddiqui, an Islamic scholar and president of the Jamia Imaam Waliullah Trust, has been accused of running a mass religious conversion racket through several organisations and schools he funded and by receiving funding from international organisations. He was arrested by the anti-terrorist squad of Uttar Pradesh police in September 2021. Besides forcible conversions, he has also been accused of promoting enmity between different religious groups and disturbing India’s sovereignty and integrity.

Several others, including other Muslim scholars Mohammad Umar Gautam and Mufti Qazi Jahangir Qasmi, have also been arrested by the police in connection with this case under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2021.

In April of this year, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Siddiqui. The Uttar Pradesh government has approached the Supreme Court against this verdict by a high court division bench of Justices Attau Rahman Masoodi and Saroj Yadav.

In May, a bench headed by Justice Aniruddha Bose declined the UP government’s request to direct that Siddiqui be arrested again. At the same time, it imposed certain conditions that the embattled cleric would have to fulfil during the period of bail. Not only was he asked to stay in the National Capital Territory of Delhi except to attend the trial underway in the State of Uttar Pradesh or to meet his investigating officer, but was also directed to carry a single location-enabled mobile phone so that he may be tracked by the investigating agency at any given time. Several other bail conditions were also imposed by the court. The order reads:

“During the period he remains enlarged on bail, we direct that he shall not leave the National Capital Territory of Delhi except for the purpose of attending the trial or for the purpose of meeting the Investigating Officer. If he leaves the National Capital Territory of Delhi for the aforesaid purposes, then too he shall give prior intimation about his movement to the ACP, Anti-Terror Squad, Noida. The respondent shall give the full address of the premises in which he shall reside in Delhi to the ACP, Anti-Terror Squad, Noida. During his stay in Delhi in terms of our order, he shall keep and use only one mobile phone with location set-up open so that his location can be traced at any point of time by the investigating agency and he shall forthwith share that mobile number with the ACP, Anti-Terror Squad, Noida. He shall surrender his passport to the said Officer of the Anti-Terror Squad, Noida. Needless to add, he shall also cooperate with the investigating agency and shall report to the investigating officer as and when called upon to do so.”

Case Details

State of Uttar Pradesh v. Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui | Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 5442 of 2023

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