BAREILY: An area court docket has acquitted two males accused beneath the Anti-religious Conversion Act for solely protecting a Bible at dwelling and ordered authorized motion towards the complainant and the law enforcement officials liable for submitting what it deemed a baseless chargesheet and misuse of authorized processes. Further district and classes Choose Gyanendra Tripathi described the case as “worrying for society”, warning that people may exploit authorized techniques for private pursuits.
Abhishek Gupta, a 41-year-old radiology technician, and Kundan Lal, 38, had been arrested on Could 29, 2022, in Bichpuri village beneath the Bithri Chainpur police station’s jurisdiction after cops allegedly recovered a Bible from Gupta’s home.Himanshu Patel, a member of a right-wing group, reported to the police that Gupta, together with a bunch of eight individuals, was conducting a conversion programme. Police discovered Abhishek reciting Bible verses to a gathering and subsequently arrested him. The police filed a chargesheet on Dec 19, 2022, and the case was dropped at court docket in July 2023.
In his judgment, the decide stated, “For private pursuits, anybody can register a case and provoke legal proceedings towards others. The police, beneath the guise of investigation, may even arrest somebody for possessing a Rs 100 observe. Abhishek Gupta not solely misplaced his job but in addition confronted extreme monetary and social hardship. Kundan Lal, who had no involvement within the case, was arrested alongside Gupta. The police, beneath stress, tried to legitimise a very false and baseless accusation, leading to a waste of priceless time for each the police and the court docket.”
Gupta, who has since moved to Gorakhpur, spoke of the frustration and misery the ordeal prompted, explaining how the false fees turned his household’s life the other way up. “My spouse and I are Christians, and we pray on Sundays. I don’t know why individuals thought we had been forcing conversions. All of a sudden, an FIR was filed towards us. I used to be despatched to jail, and the hospital requested me to resign from my job. My spouse, who labored on the identical hospital, additionally needed to give up. Our lives had been turned the other way up – we needed to change our youngsters’s college and transfer again to our hometown in Gorakhpur. We exhausted all our financial savings on this case. We’ll now search compensation as directed by the court docket,” he informed TOI. “We’ll search compensation of Rs 50 lakh,” stated defence counsel Imran Khan.
Abhishek Gupta, a 41-year-old radiology technician, and Kundan Lal, 38, had been arrested on Could 29, 2022, in Bichpuri village beneath the Bithri Chainpur police station’s jurisdiction after cops allegedly recovered a Bible from Gupta’s home.Himanshu Patel, a member of a right-wing group, reported to the police that Gupta, together with a bunch of eight individuals, was conducting a conversion programme. Police discovered Abhishek reciting Bible verses to a gathering and subsequently arrested him. The police filed a chargesheet on Dec 19, 2022, and the case was dropped at court docket in July 2023.
In his judgment, the decide stated, “For private pursuits, anybody can register a case and provoke legal proceedings towards others. The police, beneath the guise of investigation, may even arrest somebody for possessing a Rs 100 observe. Abhishek Gupta not solely misplaced his job but in addition confronted extreme monetary and social hardship. Kundan Lal, who had no involvement within the case, was arrested alongside Gupta. The police, beneath stress, tried to legitimise a very false and baseless accusation, leading to a waste of priceless time for each the police and the court docket.”
Gupta, who has since moved to Gorakhpur, spoke of the frustration and misery the ordeal prompted, explaining how the false fees turned his household’s life the other way up. “My spouse and I are Christians, and we pray on Sundays. I don’t know why individuals thought we had been forcing conversions. All of a sudden, an FIR was filed towards us. I used to be despatched to jail, and the hospital requested me to resign from my job. My spouse, who labored on the identical hospital, additionally needed to give up. Our lives had been turned the other way up – we needed to change our youngsters’s college and transfer again to our hometown in Gorakhpur. We exhausted all our financial savings on this case. We’ll now search compensation as directed by the court docket,” he informed TOI. “We’ll search compensation of Rs 50 lakh,” stated defence counsel Imran Khan.
