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Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court recently granted bail to a man granted bail to a man accused in a case involving the alleged forceful conversion of a mentally challenged person. The allegations against the accused were that at his instigation, the victim was brought to Delhi under pretenses of treatment, after which the victim disappeared.

The FIR in the case was filed by the victim's sister, who claimed that on 24.12.2022, one Kailash took the victim to Delhi under the pretense of providing treatment. The complainant was left at Samerpur on 26.12.2022 with the assurance that her brother would be cured within a week, and Kailash would then bring him back to the complainant's village.

After a week passed without the victim's return, the complainant questioned Kailash about her brother's whereabouts but received no satisfactory response.

When the victim did not return for more than a month, F.I.R. was lodged by the complainant. When the victim failed to return for over a month, the complainant lodged an FIR under Sections 3/5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.

Pleading for bail, the counsel for the accused namely Suresh Chandra @ Sonu Paster submitted that he had been falsely implicated in the case. 

The counsel contended that the accused was not named in the FIR and his name surfaced on the basis of confessional statement of co-accused Shree Ram and his elder brother Kailash.

He alleged that the complainant had borrowed Rs. 20,000 from the sister of the accused because her house was under construction and when the accused put pressure upon Kailash to return the money, then he disclosed his name in his statement. 

The counsel informed the court that the accused was working as a technical operator in a company. Moreover, he emphasised that the co-accused in the matter, Shree Ram, had been enlarged on bail.

The plea was opposed by the counsel for the informant who alleged that the accused was part of a gang that converts innocent persons to Christian religion. He further apprised the court that the victim had not yet returned, nor had his dead body been found. 

The government advocate submitted that the accused had accepted Christianity and was asked to spread the religion and join other people in Christianity. He claimed that for this purpose, the accused had started organizing prayer, meetings, and healing programmes and it was his instigation, that the victim was brought to Delhi.

The bench of Justice Renu Agarwal noted that no evidence had been collected during investigation that the victim was abducted by the accused-applicant.

Court also pointed out that the victim was sent to Delhi with the consent of the informant in the matter. 

'The applicant is found involved only in the crime under Section 3/5(1) of Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 and he has no criminal antecedent to his credit apart from this case', court noted.

Therefore, taking the period of incarceration of the accused since 16.10.2023, court, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, allowed the accused's bail application. 

Court ordered accused Suresh Chandra @ Sonu Pater to be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned. 

Case Title: Suresh Chandra @ Sonu Paster v. State of U.P.