Muslim man held in 1st arrest under Karnataka’s anti-conversion law

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Oct 15, 2022: A 24-year-old Muslim man has been arrested and remanded to judicial custody for allegedly converting a woman on the pretext of marrying her. This is the first arrest under the recently promulgated Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act.

 

The incident came to light when a 19-year-old woman went missing on October 5 and her mother approached Yeshwanthpur Police Station and filed a missing complaint. A missing complaint was registered on October 6 following a complaint by the woman’s mother the previous day.

Following this, the man, Syed Moin and the woman were questioned at the police station on October 8. On October 13, the woman’s mother again lodged a complaint alleging that her daughter had been converted to another religion by a man on the pretext of marrying her.

On the basis of her complaint, a case has been registered under section 5 of the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act and the accused has been arrested and remanded to judicial custody. The alleged religious conversion took place in Penugonda in Andhra Pradesh.

The anti-conversion law came into force in Karnataka on September 30. Under the Act, any aggrieved person, his parents, brother, sister, or any other person, who is related to him by blood, marriage or adoption may lodge a First Information Report of such conversion, which contravenes the provisions of section-3. Whoever contravenes the provisions shall be punished with imprisonment, according to the law.

Courtesy: India Today