Her lawyer terms the FIR ‘absurd, unfounded and unsubstantiated’
Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – On Monday, June 28, a Hindu woman who converted to Islam and took the name of Ayesha moved Delhi High Court seeking protection from harassment by government officials and the media. Next day, that’s on Tuesday, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh Police booked Islamic preachers Umar Gautam and his aide Mufti Jahangir Alam Qasmi for converting Ayesha, reports IANS. The two Islamic preachers are already in jail on charges of alleged conversion of over 1,000 people.
“An FIR was registered against Mohammed Umar Gautam and Jahangir Alam after finding their involvement in this conversion. We are searching for the girl as she is missing and even her father is not aware of her location. The claims made by the girl earlier did not seem to be correct. The role of her husband is also suspicious and we are investigating his role as well,” an ATS official was quoted by the Times of India as saying.
The FIR has been filed against them under sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race etc), 153-B (imputations assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295-A (deliberate or malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion), 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of IPC.
Advocate Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, who is representing Ayesha in Delhi High Court, told Clarion India that his client is not aware of the FIR that is related to her conversion. She has not filed any complaint against anyone as she has embraced Islam of her own free will, he added.
Mishra termed the FIR “absurd, unfounded and unsubstantiated”. He also said, “It is part of a witch-hunt aimed to polarize the society ahead of Uttar Pradesh elections.
The petition filed by Ayesha in the Delhi High Court states that “she had converted out of her own free will and without any threat or coercion,” said Mishra.
He clarified “that the conversion, if any, took place in Delhi and thus the UP conversion law would not be applicable in the present case.”
Ayesha, who is a working woman in Delhi, converted to Islam on May 27. In her petition she has alleged that she and her family are being hounded by government officials and media which poses extreme threat to her life and liberty.
On June 23, when she was in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, she started getting telephone calls from media persons who sought an appointment with her. She declined all the requests. Despite that, some of them visited her house, took her photographs and made videos without her permission. They even threatened her.
“There is no other option other than approaching this court for immediate directions to stop the harassment of the petitioner,” she said in her plea.
In her plea, she has prayed the court to direct the authorities to ensure that she is not taken away from the jurisdiction of the Delhi High Court by force or coercion. She has demanded directions to media channels (including electronic, print and visual media) to not to publish any malicious content with her regard and not to divulge her personal details and if already done the same may be removed with immediate effect.
Times of India and news agency IANS have attributed some quotes to Ayesha which says that she converted to Islam for better career in Dubai. But Mishra, her counsel, called these quotes “absurd and unfounded allegations”.
“This is why we filed a petition in the Delhi High Court,” he said.
