The Gujarat High Court has rejected the petition of five people, including two Muslim clerics, seeking discharge in a 2021 FIR filed in Bharuch district for the alleged conversion of 100 tribals from 35 Hindu families since 2006, stating that there was a prima facie case under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, against them.
Justice Gita Gopi was hearing a petition challenging the order of the additional sessions judge of Bharuch, who rejected the applications seeking discharge in the case. The petitioners submitted that “innocent persons had been falsely arraigned” as accused in the case, were added as accused only during the investigation, and were not named in the 2021 FIR filed at the Amod Police Station.
The accused include Yusuf Jivan Patel, Ayub Barkat Patel, Ibrahim Puna Patel, Yakub Ibrahim Shankar, and Rizwan Mehboob Patel. Of these, Yusuf, Ayub and Ibrahim Puna Patel are said to be “converted Muslim”.
What the prosecution said
Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Bhargav Pandya relied on statements of 21 witnesses, who suggested that while the two clerics had allegedly delivered “lectures, which have been made viral, affecting the religious sentiments”, the other petitioners reportedly “provided money for the alleged religious fundings” and coerced conversion through marriage.
While prosecution said Yakub Ibrahim allegedly “delivered lectures affecting the religious sentiments and had created animosity between two communities” and also “allured the members of the SC and ST community by gifts in cash as well as kind”, Rizwan Patel conspired with Yakub to provide “money for conversion and had instigated many to renounce their religion and to adopt another religion as practiced by the applicants”.
APP Pandya also submitted that the accused had received money “from overseas… (which) has been used in the activity of conversion.” The other three applicants, said to be Hindus converted to Islam, were accused of alleged “forcible conversion” and “threatening” those from the SC and ST communities.
Ayub Barkat Patel is also accused of “forcibly” taking away the daughter of one complainant for “marriage by alluring her and forcibly converting her into the Muslim religion”, as per Pandya’s submissions before the HC. Pandya also submitted that “many documents… fraudulently created, in the form of Aadhaar cards as well as electronic records have been forged and used as true…”
What the Gujarat High Court said
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Considering Pandya’s submissions, the HC said, “…it is a case of large-scale conspiracy with a scheme of converting the whole of the village where a large population of SC and ST members are there and by alluring them, by offering them incentives in the form of cash and things, which has been referred to in the statement of individual witnesses. The conversion is also by way of fraudulent marriage and all the co-accused are connected in the act…”
While stating in the present discharge applications, the court only has the “authority to find out whether there is a prima facie case against the applicants”, and “cannot run a mini-trial to find out the credibility” of the evidence and statements of witnesses collected by investigating officers.
“The Court, therefore, need not dwell on all the materials on record and minutely deal with each of the statements and proof… this Court does not find any reason to entertain the present application…” the order said.
What is the case?
At least 16 people were booked in the November 2021 FIR registered at Amod Police Station, under sections 152(B)(C)(assertions prejudicial to national interest, 153(A)(1) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295(A) (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) as well as 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act and Indian Penal Code as well as The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
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As per the police case, Rizwan Patel and Yakub Shankar also collected Rs 14 lakh through donations from foreign countries to construct a prayer house and distribute money as an allurement to convert families to Islam. The prosecution also argues that no permission was obtained from the Bharuch district collector for such conversion activity.
While dismissing petitions to quash the 2021 FIR in December last year, the High Court observed that Abdul Adam Patel, also known as Fefdawala Haji, a UK national from Nabipur in Bharuch, accused of providing financial assistance for the religious conversion in the case, had not shown any willingness to cooperate with the investigation and chose not to remain present.
The court said it found no reason to entertain his plea and noted that he visited India 25 times before the FIR was registered.
