New Delhi: In a scathing, and perhaps unprecedented, indictment of the Uttar Pradesh police, a court in Bareilly, while acquitting two Hindu men of unlawful conversion charges, has ordered legal action against a bunch of police officers in the district for falsely implicating the duo on the basis of a baseless complaint by a self-styled Hindutva cow activist.
The Wire is in possession of the court verdict and case FIR. One of the accused men, Abhishek Gupta worked as a CT scan technician at the Rohilkhand Medical College in Bareilly from 2007 till his arrest in 2022, causing him to lose his job.
The Bareilly court has directed the senior superintendent of police of the district to take “appropriate legal action” against the then station house officer, two case investigating officers and the circle officer (deputy superintendent of police) for lodging the FIR against the two men “under some pressure,” on the basis of a “baseless, unfounded, fabricated and fantastical” story.
Additional sessions judge Gyanendra Tripathi held the police guilty of making a “failed attempt” to give the fabricated story a “legal form”. The “actual culprits” in the unlawful conversion case were the complainant, his associated witnesses, the station house officer who authorised the FIR, the investigator and the Circle Officer who approved the chargesheet in the matter, said judge Tripathi.
Significantly, the court handed the two acquitted the option of filing a civil suit against the “guilty” policemen, the complainant and the witnesses and seek appropriate compensation for the “malicious prosecution.”
The court also declared the FIR “null and ineffective”, ruling that the complainant Himanshu Patel, who on social media describes himself as an activist of the Hindu Jagran Manch Yuva Vahini, had no locus to get the FIR lodged in the first place since he was neither a victim of unlawful conversion or a relative of a victim.
It was clear, Judge Tripathi noted, in the 27-page acquittal order, the FIR was lodged by the police “under some pressure” on the complaint of Patel who had filed it due to his “craving for publicity.”
The court acquitted the accused men – Abhishek Gupta and Kundan Lal Kori – of charges under sections 3 and 5 (1) of the stringent Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. The verdict was passed on July 30 but came to light through The Wire only now.
The court tore the prosecution case to shreds by deeming all their claims, from the day of the arrest to the recovery of incriminating material and the alleged unlawful conversion itself, as “suspicious.”
The FIR was lodged on May 30, 2022 against Gupta, who worked at the Rohilkhand Medical College in Bareilly, and eight unidentified others at Bithri Chainpur police station. In his FIR, a copy of which is with The Wire, Patel alleged that Gupta, originally a resident of Gorakhpur, along with eight others, was running a conversion project in village Bichpuri.
On May 29, 2022 at 7 am, Patel alleged, Gupta was holding a prayer meeting at one Mamata’s house and converting Hindus assembled there through various allurements. Patel claimed that 40 persons who were being allegedly converted unlawfully were found at the spot.
After he raised the alarm, he said a group of 10-15 members of local Hindutva groups reached the village along with police. Patel alleged that copies of the Bible were recovered from Gupta and others. Kundan Lal was later made an accused in the case even though he was not identified by the complainant.
The Act of 2021 clearly defines who is qualified to lodge an FIR against unlawful conversion. Section 4 of the law states that “any aggrieved person, his or her parents, brother, sister or any other person related to him or her by blood, marriage or adoption” would be considered competent to lodge an FIR under it.
Complainant did not have any authority to lodge FIR
Judge Tripathi agreed with the argument of the counsel for the accused men that Patel did not have any legal authority to get an FIR lodged in the matter. Since Patel was neither a victim nor a relative of the victim, he had no right to lodge an FIR under the law, said the judge.
During his cross-examination, Patel admitted before court that he was neither forced to convert nor had faced such an attempt by the accused persons. Moreover, he was not related to any of the 30-40 persons he alleged were being unlawfully converted.
Ruling that the criminal case was barred by Section 4 of the Act, judge Tripathi declared the FIR as “null and ineffective,” and said this also rendered the entire criminal proceedings in the case as null.
During the course of the examination of evidence, the court also pulled up the police on several fronts, including allegedly holding the accused Gupta under unlawful custody for more than four months. The police also could not produce any individual who was allegedly unlawfully converted by the accused persons.
Although the alleged crime was committed on May 29, the FIR was registered only a day later. This delay was not properly explained by the police. The court held it legally doubtful. The court also held that Gupta’s arrest and the alleged recovery of a Bible from him was “completely suspicious.”
Gupta was arrested by police on May 29, 2022, even before the FIR was lodged, various witnesses in the case testified to this in court. But the police case diary showed that he was arrested on October 7, 2022–a gap of more than four months.
Gupta’s lawyer alleged that he had been kept under illegal detention by police for the entire duration of more than four months. Judge Tripathi found this odd and said that the alleged arrest of Gupta on October 7 and the recovery from him was “completely suspicious.”
The court pulled up the police and observed that before lodging the FIR, the SHO of Bithri Chainpur was supposed to examine if Patel was even authorised to lodge a complaint under the law. All the witnesses in the case lived at least 10 km from the site of the alleged crime and the police didn’t even care to mention any locals or neighbours, noted the court.
The prosecution produced eight witnesses in the case – complainant Patel and his three associates Arvind Kumar, Ravindra Kumar and Devendra Singh; sub-inspectors Rajnesh Kumar and Kumdesh Tyagi, both investigating officers; doctor Faiz Shamsi, the medical officer at the Rohilkhand Medical College; and head constable Krishna Pal Singh, who drafted the FIR.
‘Duo falsely implicated suffered irreparable loss’
While acquitting Gupta and Kundan Lal of the charges, judge Tripathi said the “case is worrying for a civilised society,” where any person could start criminal action against anyone by lodging an FIR for the “appeasement” of his or her “vested interests.”
The judge was appalled to find that the police had shown a Rs 100 note as incriminating recovery made from Gupta. The court noted that Gupta had not only lost his job but also suffered financial and social loss.
In fact, the two accused persons have suffered “irreparable loss” due to the action of the police, which had not only wasted the valuable time, efforts and resources of the police system but also that of the judiciary, noted Tripathi.
While instructing SSP Bareilly to act against the then SHO, investigating officers and the CO, the court said appropriate legal action was needed so that in future “members of a civilized society” can be safeguarded from “such blatantly fake actions.”
The Wire had recently reported in detail how Section 4 of the 2021 Act was not being implemented by the book, giving third-party right-wing activists and police officers room to use their discretion and get FIRs lodged against people on the charge of converting Hindus to Christianity.
‘Lost job, daughter lost ability to speak due to trauma’
Talking to The Wire from his hometown Gorakhpur, Gupta said the entire event caused immense trauma to him and his children, aged seven and nine, who were forced to relocate to a new school after the family was evicted from the two-room service apartment allotted to it in Bareilly.
After the case was registered, Gupta said he was evicted from his residence in the hospital premises within 24 hours, following which he returned to his village in Gorakhpur. Gupta said that while he had never legally converted to Christianity, since 2004 he had been regularly attending prayer meetings for Jesus Christ, as they brought “mental peace” to him.
“The financial loss and loss of job on one side, the incident left my daughter (today aged nine) traumatised as she lost her ability to speak,” said Gupta, who is still unemployed and trying to move on from the criminal case.
Gupta also criticised the local media for sensationalising his arrest and planting unverified stories of him hinting at him allegedly converting people through monetary inducements ranging up to Rs 5 lakh.
The Wire tried to speak to the complainant Patel but his phone was switched off.