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- Published: May 21, 2022 15:50
New Delhi: The Calcutta High Court has ordered a probe by CBI & NIA into allegations of forced religious conversion in West Bengal’s Malda district and directed the agencies to submit report by June 21.
What has shocked the people is the use of ‘brute force’ and motivated conversion campaign to change the religion of two politicians, after their poll loss in Bengal Assembly elections.
Two women filed a writ petition in High Court and claimed that their husbands were forcefully converted from Hinduism to Islam for working for a particular party. They alleged that this came as a ‘punishment’ for them, for supporting a party that lost the election.
Interestingly, both the petitioners are said to be sisters and their husbands are brothers. Their husbands have been missing since November 24 last year.
The women also claimed that the police was hand in gloves with the accused and rather than dissuading such practice became a party to it. They claimed that they lodged complaint with Malda SP also but no steps were taken, following which they moved National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
“The petitioners have alleged that their husbands were forced to convert to Islam by threat, intimidation and/or under influence of drugs. It is also alleged that the forced conversion is a part of a punishment for supporting a rival political party. It is surprising to note that despite receipt of complaints, the inspector-in-charge, Kaliachak police station has not registered FIRs and Malda SP has not ordered any steps, as were required to be taken,” a leading portal quoting the court order reported.
Earlier, this week, a video also surfaced on social media in which the women claimed that inspector-in-charge forced their husbands to convert.
The Calcutta High Court has directed CBI, NIA and the State Police to look into the matter and submit status reports by the next date of hearing i.e. 21 Jun 2022.
Law and order in Bengal inspires no one, especially in border districts, which have seen massive demographic shift. https://t.co/wd82Ks3PUJ
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 19, 2022
Looking at the gravity of situation, the court ordered high-level probe by CBI & NIA and said that both the agencies should investigate the matter jointly.
The State government however submitted in its reply that the conversion was a voluntary choice and it apparently happened because of family dispute & not any political pressure.
The Court has asked Malda SP to independently submit a detailed report on the allegations of petitioners and also the steps taken by police and preliminary enquiry. The matter will be heard again on June 21.