Allahabad HC Denies Bail To 'Maulvi' Accused Of Forcibly Changing Religion Of Mentally Unsound Minor

A bench of Justice Sameer Jain denied him relief, noting that there are specific allegations against the accused and the alleged victim also made allegations against him in his statement recorded under Section 161 CrPC.

The court was dealing with the case of the accused (Maulvi Syed Shad Kazmi @ Mohd Shad), who was arrested on February 18 this year after being booked under Sections 504 and 506 IPC and Section 3/5(1) Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.

Seeking bail in the case, the accused moved the Court, wherein his counsel argued that he had been made accused in the present matter based on a false allegation.

It was also contended that the alleged victim was mentally unsound and the applicant neither changed his religion nor compelled him to change his religion.

On the other hand, the AGA opposed the prayer for bail and submitted that the applicant was Maulvi in the Mosque, who not only allured the mentally unsound son of the informant, who was minor, to change his religion, but he, after enticing him, kept him in a 'Madarsa' and thereafter forcibly changed his religion.

Against this backdrop, noting that the applicant, a Maulvi at a mosque, had been accused of forcibly converting the religion of a mentally unsound minor and given the seriousness of the allegations and the evidence presented, the court refused to grant him bail.

Case title - Maulvi Syed Shad Kazmi @ Mohd Shad vs. State of U.P 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 359 [CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 13628 of 2024]

Case citation: 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 359

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