In first case under anti-conversion law, which move landed Karnataka man in jail?

Based on a complaint from the so-called victim’s mother, the North division’s Yeshwantpur police registered an FIR under Sections 3 and 5 of the new Act against the 24-year-old Syed Mueen, a resident of BK Nagar in Yeshwantpur, on 8 October.

The cops arrested him the same day and produced him before a magistrate, from where he was remanded in judicial custody.

The story so far

According to the police, Mueen, who works at a chicken shop in BK Nagar, was in love with the 19-year-old girl, who was his neighbour.

The girl is a school dropout. Her father works as a painter and her mother is a homemaker. The teen has two sisters and a brother.

Their family hails from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, but has been settled in Karnataka for 15 years, the police said.

The family got to know about the girl’s affair six months ago, and took strict objections to it.

The parents warned both their daughter and Mueen against meeting each other, and also convinced the teen that their wedding was not going to happen.

The 19-year-old went missing on 5 October, and her mother — after searching for her everywhere — filed a complaint with the Yeshwantpur police who tried to trace her.

On 8 October, the girl returned to Bengaluru in a burqa with her now husband Mueen and confessed to her parents that she had married him against their wishes.

She also told her parents that she had gone to Penukonda in Andhra Pradesh where she converted to Islam at a Dargah before the two got married in Islamic tradition.

This shocked the parents, and the mother approached the Yeshwantpur police on 8 October and filed a complaint that her daughter was made to convert to another religion on the pretext of marriage.

The police swung into action and registered an FIR — the first under the new act — and arrested Mueen, who is now lodged at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.

The girl was sent back to her family after the investigating officer obtained a statement from her that she had converted to another religion with a precondition of marriage.

Shocked by the developments, Mueen’s family told the police that they regretted whatever had happened, and that they were unaware of the new law.

What the new law says

According to the new law, anyone who wishes to convert from his or her religion to another is supposed to give a declaration regarding it 30 days in advance to the tehsildar, district magistrate, or additional district magistrate.

The authority has to call for objections, if any, to the proposed religious conversion.

If any objection arises within the 30-day notice period, the person who wants to convert would be subjected to an inquiry by officials of the Social Welfare Department.

And if this inquiry reveals the intent of the conversion to be for a purpose or a cause, then the authority would ask the police to initiate criminal action.

If the intent is genuine, then it would be allowed, police sources said. In essence, the person has to show that they are converting out of their own will, and that there is no external influence direct or indirect.

In this case, the 19-year-old did not follow the stipulated guidelines enacted in the new law.

Cop defends action; advocate differs

When questions were raised on the conversion ceremony that happened in Penukonda in Andhra Pradesh, a state that is not governed by any such laws, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Vinayak Patil told South First: “Since there was a missing person’s case registered on 5 October and the continuation of that case would lead to the religious conversion that happened in another state, and since the blood relative — the mother of the victim — had come forward with a complaint that her daughter was forced into another religion in the pretext of the marriage, the case was registered and the investigation was undertaken.”

However, advocate and activist Maitreyi K asked how the new Karnataka law would apply to an incident that happened in another state, which has no such law.

“A person going missing is not an offence or a crime. And the so-called ‘offence’ of conversion happened in Penukonda in AP. How does the Karnataka law apply there?” Maitreyi asked.

“This is a blatant attack and targeting of minority-community members. It is a clear attempt at restricting the fundamental freedom of women. There are reports stating that the girl converted of her own will. If there was no force involved, where is the offence?” she piled on the questions.

“As we pointed out in the past, the problem with this law is that it criminalises acts of freedom for women, like choosing their partner, choosing whom they love, or choosing the God to whom they pray. It is absolutely ridiculous that such an FIR has been filed and the man sent to jail,” Maitreyi said.