Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Jahangirabad police have registered two cases of alleged forced religious conversions, confinement and intimidation against members of two families. In both incidents, the complainants alleged pressure and threats to make them change their religion for marriage and financial gain.
The cases were registered against the named accused under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act and other sections of the BNS and further investigations were being carried out, police officials said.
In the first case, Akash Kumar Panika of Shahdol alleged that he was forced to adopt Islam and was illegally married inside a mosque. Akash, who worked in a bakery on Chiklod Road, claimed that he came in contact with grocery store owner Shakir Hussain who promised to set up a bakery business with him.
As per the complaint, Shakir allegedly offered Akash Rs 8 lakh as a loan for bakery machines and assured him that the machines would be transferred to his name once he converted to Islam.
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Akash claimed that the financial lure soon turned into pressure and he was forced to stay at Shakir s residence where he was repeatedly intimidated by Shakir, his son in law Mohammad Faim and employee Tahir Khan.
Akash alleged that one day Shakir called some clerics to his house where he was forcibly circumcised and converted, following which his name was changed to Mohammad Anas. He was threatened not to disclose the conversion.
Later, he was reportedly compelled to marry a woman named Fatima Zehra in a mosque against his will. Akash said that even after he repaid the entire loan amount and invested an additional Rs 10 lakh of his own, the accused kept his bakery machines and had forcibly shut down the bakery for the past three months.
Youth pressured to convert for marriage, sent to Jamaats
In the second complaint, one Shubham Goswami alleged that he was pressured into conversion by the family of a woman named Ilma with whom he was in a relationship.
Shubham said that after a 2022 abduction and rape case filed by the girl's family, he spent four months in jail. Later, Ilma's father Abdul Naeem, brother Abdul Nadeem and mother Shama allegedly promised to withdraw the case and arrange the marriage only if he adopted Islam.
Under pressure, Shubham said he converted at Aam Wali Masjid in March 2023 and was sent to Jamaats in Raisen and Karnataka. Upon returning, he asked the family about marriage but they allegedly refused and threatened to kill him and his family if he reconnected with the Hindu community.
