Court orders action against UP police for false FIR in religious conversion case

A local court in Bareilly has sharply criticized the police for wrongly accusing two people of forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity. The court ruled that the charges, influenced by pressure from local Hindutva leaders, were baseless, highlighting concerns over the improper use of Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion



law.

The accused Abhishek Gupta, 41, and Kundal Lal were charged under the state’s anti-conversion law, officially known as the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, which was driven by the state’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath. The law prohibits religious conversion through “unlawful means”.