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Religious conversion case: SC grants protection from arrest to varsity officials
The Allahabad high court last week directed Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences vice chancellor Rajendra Bihari Lal and other officials to surrender by December 20
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection from arrest to the vice chancellor and five other officials of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (Allahabad) in a case of alleged forceful religious conversion.
A vacation bench of justices Anirudhha Bose and KV Vishwanathan stayed until January 12 or further order, whichever is earlier, an Allahabad high court order last week directing Rajendra Bihari Lal and others to surrender by December 20.
The six moved the Supreme Court against the high court order refusing to quash the case a former university employee filed against them on November 4 in Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur district alleging job offer and other allurements to persuade her to adopt Christianity.
The complainant has also levelled allegations of gang rape and accused another woman of trapping her and taking her regularly to a church.
The high court called the allegations heinous and asked the accused to apply for regular bail after surrendering.
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, who appeared for the petitioners in the Supreme Court, submitted the high court order effectively deprives his clients of their legal remedy to seek anticipatory bail. He added the complainant first made the allegation of alleged conversion. Dave said she joined in 2014 and after she was sacked in 2022, she filed a sexual exploitation complaint.
The bench cited the Supreme Court orders protecting Lal from arrest in other cases alleging forced religious conversion while asking Dave whether he was concerned with the operative part of the high court order or the reasoning given in it. Dave said his immediate requirement was the stay.
A high court bench of justices Rahul Chaturvedi and Mohd Azhar Husain Idrisi noted no God or true church or temple or mosque would approve “such types of malpractices”. It added if someone has chosen to convert, it is another aspect. “In the instant case prevailing upon the tender mind of a young girl by providing gifts, clothing, and other physical amenities and then asking her to get baptized is an unpardonable sin.”
The high court directed the Hamirpur police superintendent to supervise the probe of the case and ensure the final report is filed before the concerned magistrate within 90 days.
