Allahabad HC flags lodging of ‘fake FIRs’ under anti-conversion law in Uttar Pradesh

The Allahabad High Court has raised serious concerns over the filing of “false, fake, and frivolous FIRs” under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 and stated that it has observed a “troubling pattern of misuse” of the law by the police and third-party complainants.

The observations were made by the Division Bench comprising Justice Abdul Moin and Justice Pramod Kumar Srivastava on April 13 while hearing a petition filed by a Muslim man against whom an FIR was lodged by invoking provisions of the anti-conversion law.

The Bahraich police had filed the case against him based on the complaint of an 18-year-old woman’s father. He was booked under Sections 87, 69, and 351(3) of the BNS, 2023, and Sections 3 & 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.