Man booked under anti-conversion law in Dehradun

The Dehraduun Police said that the accused allegedly pressurised the woman to convert religion and marry him and also sexually assaulted her

The Dehradun Police on Monday registered a case against a 24-year-old man under anti-conversion law for allegedly pressurising and threatening woman to convert religion and marry him, a police official said. Police said that the accused had also sexually assaulted the woman.

The Dehradun police said that their investigation into the matter is underway and they are yet to arrest the accused. (Representative Image)

A first information report (FIR) was registered against the accused, identified as Asif Manan, a resident of Doiwala in Dehradun, under sections 3 and 5 of the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, and sections 354 (sexual assault), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Rakesh Shah, senior sub-inspector (SSI) at Doiwala police station, said, “We have registered the FIR under relevant sections of the Freedom of Religion Act and IPC. Our investigation into the matter is underway, We are yet to arrest the accused.

On November 30 last year, the Uttarakhand assembly passed an amendment bill titled “Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act 2022” to strengthen the anti-conversion law in the state. On November 18, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami termed religious conversion as “nasoor” (canker) for the state, explaining why his government has decided to introduce stricter provisions in the anti-conversion law.

Meanwhile, right wing organisations have alleged that the accused was targeting women from the community by distributing drugs among them.

“For a long time, the accused had been targeting women from our community by distributing drugs among them. He made private videos of these women and blackmailed them. Local people had seen the accused involved in arguments with some women in public. On Sunday, when they again saw the accused doing the same. The locals came to know that the man had been harassing the women. They subsequently caught the man near Jollygrant and informed us. We handed him over to the police,” Vikas Verma of Bajrang Dal’s Dehradun unit told HT.