Supreme Court Grants Pre-Arrest Bail To Maulvi From Gujarat In Forced Religious Conversion Case

A Bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar proceeded to pass the order in favour of the petitioner after noting that he had appeared before the investigating officer for interrogation as per the Court’s previous order.

It also asked the Trial Court to determine the conditions for bail.

“Having heard Mr. Dushyant Dave, learned Senior Advocate, appearing for the petitioner and Mr. Kanu Agarwal, learned counsel, appearing for the State and in the facts and circumstances of the case narrated herein above and the fact that the petitioner has been protected by interim order since 13.05.2022 and thereafter has appeared before the Investigating Agency as per the subsequent order passed by this Court, we deem it proper to confirm the ad interim order passed earlier and direct that, in case of arrest of the petitioner, he be released on bail on the terms and conditions, which may be imposed by the learned trial Court.”

The Court was hearing an SLP challenging an order of the Gujarat High Court which rejected his application seeking anticipatory bail.

During the hearing, Agrawal submitted that the petitioner was giving evasive replies during the interrogation and therefore, a custodial investigation would be required. This was refuted by Dave.

This prompted the Court to allow the investigating agency to move an application seeking custodial investigation, if required, which will have to heard on its merits.

“It goes without saying that if the State/Investigating Agency is of the opinion that the custodial investigation is required, in that case, it will be open for the Investigating Agency to move an appropriate application before the concerned Court and the present order shall not come in the way of the Investigating Agency.”

With this, the Court further clarified that it did not make any comments whether the Investigating Agency should be granted the permission for custodial investigation or not.

The Gujarat High Court has rejected anticipatory bail to the maulvi accused of forcefully converting religion of 37 Hindu families and 100 Hindus. It was also alleged that the Applicant lured them by offering financial assistance and converted a house constructed with Government funds to a place of worship — Ibadatgaah.

The Applicant was booked for offenses under Sections 4 of the Freedom of Religion Act and Section 120B, 153(B)(1)(c), 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code. It was also alleged that the Applicant hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community and when other persons wanted to revert to Hinduism, they were threatened with dire consequences by the Applicant.

In May, the Supreme Court had ordered that no coercive steps be taken against the petitioner to take him into custody.

Case Title: Varyava Abdul Wahab vs State of Gujarat | SLP (Crl) 4208/2022