Bareilly/Allahabad : The Allahabad High Court has taken strong note of allegations that seven Muslim men from Bareilly were illegally detained, tortured, and forced to sign confessions in connection with an alleged “conversion racket.” The court has directed senior officials of Bareilly Police, including the ADG, IG, and SSP, to personally appear on September 8 and produce the detainees, reported the Madhyamam.
Families of the accused claim that their loved ones were picked up in plain clothes by the Special Operation Group (SOG) at different times in August without warrants, FIRs, or arrest memos. For days, families were kept in the dark about their whereabouts, prompting habeas corpus petitions in the High Court.
Relatives allege that the detainees were brutally beaten, electrocuted, and pressured to sign blank papers. In some cases, families were even asked to bring medicines, suggesting deterioration of the men’s health in custody.
Among those detained is Mohammad Abdullah, formerly known as Brajpal, who reverted to Islam in 2014 after personal study. His wife, Tabassum, said she was initially misled into signing papers claiming her husband had “returned home” before learning he was being held for “converting to Islam.”
Abdullah’s mother, Usha Rani, who remains Hindu, said his decision to embrace Islam was entirely voluntary and accepted by the family. “No one can force belief on someone. It was his own choice,” she said.
Other detainees include Mohammad Salman, a cloth worker; Mohammad Arif, a maths teacher; Faheem, a barber accused of circumcision; Mehmood Beg, a diabetic cloth seller; Abdul Majeed; and cleric Aqil. Families insist they have no role in any “conversion racket” and accuse the police of framing them.
Beg’s wife, Parveen Akhtar, alleged that police threatened their son at gunpoint and later demanded ₹1 lakh for Beg’s release. “I fear they will kill him and then falsely frame him,” she said. Lawyers for the families argued that such detentions are unconstitutional and violate Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees personal liberty.
Bareilly Police maintain that the arrests are linked to complaints under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, including charges of abduction and intimidation. However, rights activists say the case fits a wider pattern of custodial abuse in Uttar Pradesh, where claims of “conversion rackets” are often used to justify arbitrary detentions.
The Allahabad HC bench of Justices Salil Kumar Rai and Zafeer Ahmad observed that if allegations of torture are proven true, it would amount to a grave violation of fundamental rights. The matter will be heard again on September 8.
