False FIR for converting Hindus to Christianity: Court orders action against UP police

The Uttar Pradesh police in Bareilly faced a scathing attack from a local court in the district for indicting two men in a fabricated religious conversion case and filing an FIR against them under pressure from a local Hindutva leader, besides ordering legal action against the officers involved.

The court found the charges against Abhishek Gupta and Kundan Lal Kori, who were accused of converting Hindus to Christianity through inducements during a prayer meeting in Bareilly's Bichpuri village in May 2022, to be baseless and ruled that the case was a product of police misconduct under external pressure, The Wire reported.

The court also granted them the option to file a civil suit against the police officers, the complainant, and the witnesses involved, seeking compensation for malicious prosecution.

The complaint led to Gupta’s arrest and the subsequent filing of charges under the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. However, the court has since determined that Patel had no legal standing to file such a complaint, and the case was built on unfounded allegations.

Abhishek Gupta, a CT scan technician who had worked at the Rohilkhand Medical College in Bareilly since 2007, lost his job following his arrest in 2022. The Bareilly court, in its ruling on 30th July 2023, directed the district's senior superintendent of police to take appropriate legal action against the officers involved in filing the first information report (FIR).

The officers implicated include the then station house officer, two case investigating officers, and the circle officer (deputy superintendent of police). The court accused them of lodging the FIR “under some pressure,” based on a story it described as “baseless, unfounded, fabricated, and fantastical.”

The court’s verdict, delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Gyanendra Tripathi, was scathing in its assessment of the police’s role in the case. The judge accused the police of making a “failed attempt” to lend legal credibility to what was essentially a fabricated narrative.

He further identified the actual culprits in the case as not the accused men, but rather the complainant, Patel, the associated witnesses, and the police officers who authorised and pursued the case.

The court’s ruling not only acquitted Gupta and Kundan Lal of the charges under sections 3 and 5 (1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act but also declared the FIR “null and ineffective.”

The judgment emphasised that Patel, who was neither a victim of unlawful conversion nor related to any alleged victim, had no legal authority to lodge such a complaint. During the trial, Patel admitted that he had not been subjected to any conversion attempts nor was he related to any of the people he claimed were being converted.

The court’s ruling also highlighted several procedural flaws and lapses by the police. The delay in registering the FIR, which was filed a day after the alleged crime, was deemed legally dubious. The court also found the arrest of Gupta and the supposed recovery of incriminating materials from him to be highly suspicious.

Witnesses testified that Gupta was arrested on May 29, 2022, even before the FIR was lodged, yet police records falsely indicated that his arrest occurred months later, on October 7, 2022. This discrepancy led the court to conclude that Gupta had been held in illegal detention for over four months.

Judge Tripathi expressed deep concern over the implications of the case for a civilised society. He criticised the ease with which any individual could instigate criminal proceedings against others for their personal interests.