UP Court Grants Bail To Maulana Umar Gautam In Religious Conversion Case

A Local court of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday granted bail to Maulana Umar Gautam in a case registered against him under the UP 'Anti Love Jihad' Law for allegedly pressurizing a teacher in a school to convert her religion.

The bail order has been passed by an Additional Sessions Judge, Fatehpur, Rajendra Singh (IV) while noting that the offence alleged is said to have been committed in the initial months of the year 2020, while the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, under which Gautam has been booked, came into force from November 27, 2020 (firstly as an ordinance and thereafter as an Act).

The case in brief 

The prosecution has alleged that the complainant in the case had done teaching work from May 2019 to March 2020  in Noorul Huda English Medium School., where Islamic education is given to Hindu children and Namaz is also taught to the children and when children refuse to recite or learn Namaz, they are either lured or intimidated.

Further, the prosecution alleged that in 2020, during the winter holidays, Maulana Umar Gautam (Bail applicant/accused) had come to the School to teach the principles of Islam and that is when he had forced all the Hindu teachers to adopt Islam religion by insulting Hindu deities and using hateful words against them.

He had also tempted them to send them abroad and promised to provide several facilities and to pay a lot of money. Now, when the complainant refused to change her religion, she was removed from services and was later on given threats for her life. 

Thereafter, a complaint was made against him by her, and Gautam was arrested in June 2020 by the UP police Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) on the charges of mass conversion of people into Islam through inducements such as marriage, job and money, and mental pressure.

He has been booked under sections 417, 120-B, 153-A, 153-B, 295-A, 298, 121A, 123 and Sections 3, 5 (1) & 8 Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of religious Act, 2021 alleging mass scale conversion of around 1000 persons especially deaf and mute students, women, children and those from weaker and vulnerable sections through inducements such as marriage, job and money, and mental pressure and the petitioner was arrested in the aforementioned FIR

Gautam's bail plea

Filing the bail application, Umar Gautam contended that the complainant was removed on administrative and some undisclosed grounds better known to the management of the institution and that due to ongoing litigation between the informant/complainant and the management of the School, for the purpose of taking revenge, the instant F.I.R. was lodged solely with the objective and intention to harass and humiliate the alleged accused persons, thereby pressurizing and extorting money from them.

Court's observations

The Court observed that the prosecution had not presented any history of his conviction in any criminal case. Further, the Court also noted that he is in jail since June 2020.

The Court granted him bail on the condition of submitting two sureties and a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each. In the bail order, the court has observed that the bail order should not reflect on the merits or demerits of a case.

"It is true that Article 20(1) of the Constitution of India provides that no person shall be convicted of any offense unless, at the time of his doing any such act, it has been made an offence. The UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance had come into force on November 27, 2020, and the Act had been deemed to have come into force from that date. Thus the act of the accused/applicant in the month of February/March does not appear to be provisioned as an offense," the Court observed as it noted the submisison of defence made in this regard.

It is a matter of common knowledge that Penal Laws cannot be applied retrospectively. Article 20(1) of the Constitution expressly bars the retrospective application of criminal law. Hence, it is impossible to apply the 'Anti Love Jihad' law, which came in November 2020, to a crime that allegedly happened before November 2020.

Counsels Zia Jilani, T.W. Pathan assisted by Advocate Tufail Ahmad appeared for Accused Maulana Umar Gautam.

Click Here To Read/Download Order