Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court has rejected the post-conviction bail applications of Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, Mohd. Umar Gautam and six other convicts in the alleged illegal mass religious conversion case being probed since 2021, while granting bail to eight other convicts during the pendency of their appeals.

Source: LiveLaw

A bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra passed the order on Wednesday, November 4, while deciding bail applications in 16 criminal appeals challenging the common judgment of the Special Judge (NIA), Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, dated September 11, 2024, which had convicted the appellants.

Besides Siddiqui and Gautam, the court refused bail to Mufti Qazi Jhangeer Qasmi, Sallahuddin Jainuddin Sheikh, Prasad Rameshwar Kawre alias Adam, Irfan Shaikh, Kauser Alam and Dr. Faraz Babullah Shah. The bench noted that the eight had spent more than four years and six months in custody during the trial and after conviction, but found the charges against them to be 'of very serious in nature' and saw no plausible reason to enlarge them on bail at the post-conviction stage.

The eight convicts granted bail are Mannu Yadav, Abdullah Umar, Dheeraj Govindrao Jagtap, Bhoopriya Bando alias Arslan Mustafa, Sarfaraz Ali Jafri, Mohd. Saleem, Kunal Ashok Chaudhari alias Atif and Rahul Bhola. The court said their roles and the evidence of overt acts attributed to them were comparatively on the lighter side, and noted that Saleem, Bhola, Mannu Yadav and Chaudhari had not been convicted under Section 121A of the Indian Penal Code.

Those released on bail must furnish a personal bond and two sureties each, deposit their passports with the trial court, cooperate in the hearing of their appeals, not leave the country without the High Court's permission and deposit 50 per cent of the fine imposed by the trial court within two months of their release, with the remaining 50 per cent stayed. The bench warned that if the amount is not deposited in time, the bail will stand cancelled.

The 2021 ATS case

The appeals arise out of four connected sessions trials linked to a case registered in 2021 at the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) police station in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow. The case invokes Sections 120B, 153A, 153B, 295A, 417, 298, 121A and 123 of the IPC, Sections 3, 5 and 8 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, and Sections 11 and 35 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. The allegations, which the prosecution must sustain in appeal, are that the network targeted weaker sections of society, children, women and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities for conversion.

According to the trial court's findings cited by the High Court, Gautam was described as the alleged mastermind who operated the Islamic Dawah Centre in Delhi, while Siddiqui was alleged to have worked through the Jamia Imam Waliullah Trust and the Global Peace Centre; Sallahuddin Jainuddin Sheikh was alleged to have routed about Rs 62 crore through hawala channels. These remain allegations recorded in the trial judgment, and all 16 appeals are still to be decided on merits.

The High Court directed that the trial court records be summoned and a paper book prepared, and listed the criminal appeals for hearing in the first week of January 2027.