The Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily against the Uttar Pradesh Police for invoking the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 in an alleged rape case, without any evidence.
Hearing a bail petition filed by a man accused of alleged rape and unlawful conversion, the Bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar pulled up the State Police for acting in a biased manner. It said the State Police wrongly applied the anti-conversion law in a case, where the facts spoke for themselves.
The top court of the country decided to grant leave in the case on the grounds that the informant was already married and had a child from a previous relationship.
Pointing out contradictions in the office report with regard to the service report of the second respondent, the Bench directed the Registry to examine and correct the factual position.
The Counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that he has remained behind bars for the past eight months, without any fault of his, just for helping a lady.
The Counsel representing the State of Uttar Pradesh contended that the case also involved charges of gangrape. He sought additional time to file a counter affidavit.
The Bench granted the state government time of two weeks to file the counter affidavit and listed the matter for further hearing in the week commencing on May 5, 2025.
During the previous hearing, while issuing notice in the matter, the top court of the country recorded the submission of the petitioner that it was a case of a consensual relationship where the parties were known to each other for a long time. It further noted that wrong allegations have been made to put the petitioner behind bars.
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