Supreme Court Directs No Coercive Action Against SHUATS Vice Chancellor Accused Of Religious Mass Conversion Allegedly On Ventilator
The Supreme Court has stayed coercive proceedings against the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology, and Sciences (SHUATS), Vice Principal and Director, Dr Rajendra Bihari Lal who is an accused in a 2011 religious conversion case, pending further orders. The matter was mentioned before the court citing an urgency alleging that Lal is on ventilator support and is being airlifted from Delhi to Prayagraj.
It is pertinent to note that Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology, and Sciences (SHUATS), formerly known as Allahabad Agricultural Institute is a Christian Minority Institution situated in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud while issuing notice in the petition, thus observed, “Pending further orders, there shall be a stay of coercive proceedings against the petitioner in connection with FIR No 328/2023 dated 21 June 2023 lodged at Police Station Naini, Yamuna Nagar (Commissionerate Prayagraj) and FIR No 318/2023 dated 4 September 2023 lodged at Police Station Ghurpur, Yamuna Nagar (Commissionerate Prayagraj)”.
The bench also comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra while directing the matter to be tagged along with another SLP (Crl) No. 3210 of 2023 had further noted that “Prima facie, it appears that Annexure P-4 pertains to an incident of alleged conversion which took place in 2011. This Court has passed protective orders in SLP (Crl) No 3210 of 2023 on 24 March 2023 and in Writ Petition (Crl) No 141 of 2023 on 6 April 2023 arising out of similar FIRs”.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave appearing for Lal while mentioning the matter citing an urgency had submitted, “While I am here, I am airlifted, the medical report itself says I am airlifted from Prayagraj, I am hospitalised in Delhi and they are knocking at my doors at the Hospital, wanting to arrest me”.
In the present matter, it was the case of the petitioner that he is suffering from an acute severe bilateral Pneumonia with Hypoxemia and ARDS and is on ventilatoral support, and was airlifted to Delhi from Prayagraj. However, the Police from the State of Uttar Pradesh was seeking to arrest him based on the two FIRs dated June 21, 2023 and September 4, 2023.
It is to be noted that on March 3, 2023, the Apex Court had earlier granted Lal an interim protection against arrest on his plea.
For the background, the Allahabad High Court earlier denied anticipatory bail to the accused persons saying that the intent of the accused persons behind the charitable works appears to be dubious affecting the interest of a marginal section of society, the object of law, and the impact of the same on society. A Single Bench of Justice Manju Rani Chauhan noted that the power under Section 438 of the Cr.PC. cannot be utilized in a routine manner as a substitute for regular bail and that such a discretionary power calls for the existence of facts of the kind where the court is satisfied that its interference is necessary to further the cause of justice and to prevent misuse of process of law.
An FIR was lodged by Uttar Pradesh Police under Sections 153-A, 506, 420, 467, 468, and 471 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 & 5(1) of the U.P. Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.
It was alleged in the police complaint that about 90 persons of Hindu religion were congregated at Evangelical Church of India, Hariharganj, Fatehpur for the purpose of their conversion to Christianity by putting them under undue influence, coercion, and luring them by playing fraud and promise of easy money, etc.
After the receipt of the information, the Government officers reached the place and interrogated the pastor who disclosed that the process for conversion was going on for the last 34 days and that such process shall be completed within 40 days. It was further disclosed that they have been trying to convert even the patients admitted to the Mission Hospital and the employees have played an active role in the same. The Government officers found 35 persons and 20 unknown persons as having been involved in such conversion and FIR were registered against all of them.
Cause Title: Rajendra Bihari Lal v. The State Of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.
