Read Time: 03 minutes

The Allahabad High Court has reserved orders in a plea moved by Umar Gautam and Jahangir Alam seeking restriction on the media from allegedly misreporting and making premature statements in relation to the Uttar Pradesh Conversion racket.

Umar Gautam and Jahangir Alam have been accused of being a part of a nationwide religious conversion racket. They were arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorism Squad last month.

A First Information Report filed was filed against the accused(s) on June 20, alleging that the squad had been receiving information for some time that “anti-national and anti-social elements” and religious organisations were using funds obtained from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, along with other foreign sources, to convert people in India from their native religion to Islam. 

This, as per the FIR claims, was being done to “change the demography” of the country and “create animosity” between religious groups.

It further alleged that these individuals and organisations particularly target vulnerable groups such as children, women, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities and those with hearing and speaking disabilities, using threats, inducements and false promises of jobs and money to convert them to Islam.

On June 23, 2021 the Allahabad High Court bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Yadav and Justice Siddharth Varma dismissed as withdrawn, the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020, as the said Ordinance is an Act (Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021) now, with effect from 4th March, 2021