A Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh has been convicted of sexually assaulting a Scheduled Caste woman and forcibly converting her religion, resulting in a life imprisonment sentence. The SC/ST court in Bulandshahr also imposed a fine of Rs 4.45 lakh on the man.
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In March 2022, the victim had filed a complaint stating that the accused, Mohammed Anees Ahmed, pretended to be a Hindu named Akash and manipulated her into a relationship. The victim further alleged that Anees Ahmed, in the typical style of love jihad, deceitfully married her, converted her to Islam, changed her name to Ayesha and sexually exploited her.
Additionally, she claimed that Anees Ahmed fled with Rs 2.5 lakh in cash and a gold chain that belonged to her. The victim attempted to contact him to understand the motive behind his behaviour. However, he responded by hurling casteist slurs at her and stating, “I cannot marry you because you are a cham**r,” before abruptly ending the call.
Trial of the Muslim who waylaid a Hindu
The love jihad complaint led to the registration of a case under various Sections of the IPC and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. This was the first case of life term under the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act of Uttar Pradesh.
The court received a charge sheet from the police, initiating the trial conducted by the Monitoring Cell Bulandshahr in the High Court. During the proceedings, five witnesses were interrogated about the accused. This prosecution falls under the state’s Director General of Police’s campaign called “Operation Conviction.”
Anees was arrested and presented before the court where the public prosecutor argued, “The charge sheet was submitted in the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) court after consideration. The case was registered on 15 March 2022. The woman belongs to the SC/ST community while the culprit is a Muslim. The accused deceived the woman by pretending to be a Hindu, brought her to Gulaothi and later disclosed his true identity to her. He changed her religion and started calling her Ayesha. He then left her after taking her money and gold chain.”
The prosecutor said further, “Sections 376(2), 420 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code as well as 3, 2 and 5 of the SC/ST Act and 3/5 unlawful religious conversion act were involved against the perpetrator. He was pronounced guilty under all the charges and was given life imprisonment which means until his last breath and a penalty of Rs 4.56 lakhs of which Rs 3.50 lakh will be provided to the victim. This is the first case of this nature where a convict is penalised for religious conversion.”
Process of investigation
The additional superintendent of police notified that the police filed the charge sheet in a little more than a month and conducted a prompt investigation. The witnesses were presented in court on the scheduled dates by the police.
The statement of the doctor who conducted the medical examination on the victim was taken via video conferencing as she was in the course of attending her postgraduate classes in Bengaluru and couldn’t be physically present in court.
The government lawyer mentioned that the punishment given was exceptionally uncommon following the enforcement of the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance of 2020.
After considering the arguments from both sides, the court found the accused guilty on all charges and handed down the verdict, sentencing Anees to imprisonment. However, the accused maintains his innocence and intends to challenge the verdict in a higher court.
The mainstream media insists, against all evidence to the contrary, that love jihad is a conspiracy theory of the Hindu ‘right wing’, much as the term was coined by Christians of Kerala in the period 2005-07.