India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI: On Wednesday, a special NIA-Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) court in Uttar Pradesh sentenced 12 individuals, including Islamic preacher Maulana Kalim Siddiqui and Mohammed Umar Gautam, founder of the Islamic Da’wah Centre, to life imprisonment.
The verdict was delivered by Special Judge Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi. In addition to the life sentences, four other individuals were given 10-year prison terms.
According to police, the convicted individuals were involved in a scheme to convert students with hearing disabilities and economically disadvantaged individuals to Islam in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly with foreign funding.
Maulana Gautam, who lived in Batla House, Jamia Nagar, Delhi, and had converted from Hinduism to Islam, reportedly claimed to have converted “at least 1,000 people to Islam,” using incentives such as marriage, money, and job offers, Director General of Police Prashant Kumar had told the media when Gautam was arrested by ATS in 2021.
Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui is the head of the Shah Waliullah Trust Muzaffarnagar and the chairman of the Global Peace Foundation.
Maulana Umar Gautam, originally named Shyam Pratap Singh and born into a Rajput family in Fatehpur, converted to Islam in the 1990s. His wife, Raziya, was formerly known as Rajeshwari. Umar’s decision to embrace Islam came after he met his Muslim friend Nasir Khan at Govind Ballabh Pant University, which is now located in Uttarakhand.
Along with Gautam and Siddiqui, the others receiving life sentences are Irfan Sheikh, Salahuddin Zainuddin Sheikh, Prasad Rameshwar Kanware alias Adam, Arsalan Mustafa alias Bhupriya Bandon, Kaushar Alam, Faraz Shah, Dheeraj Govind Rao Jagtap, Sarfaraz Ali Jafri, Qazi Jahangir, and Abdullah Umar(son of Maulana Gautam), all convicted under IPC section 121A for conspiracy to commit an offence against the state.
Four additional individuals—Mohd Salim, Rahul Bhola, Mannu Yadav, and Kunal Ashok Chaudhary—were sentenced to 10 years in prison under the UP Prohibition of Religious Conversion Act, 2021.
The Islamic Da’wah Centre, alleged to be behind the conversions, was found to be receiving financial support from foreign sources, according to police. The ATS conducted multiple operations across the country, leading to the arrest of the accused after filing an FIR in Lucknow and initiating an investigation into the allegedly illegal conversions and foreign funding.
