Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has ruled that individuals who claim to be “victims” of religious conversion may still face prosecution if they later engage in activities aimed at “inducing others to convert.”

The court clarified that people who convert and subsequently pressure or lure others cannot be considered victims and are liable for prosecution.

These observations came in a recent order dismissing multiple petitions seeking to quash a 2021 FIR filed at Amod Police Station in Bharuch, concerning the alleged conversion of 100 tribals from 35 Hindu families since 2006.

Justice Nirzar S. Desai delivered a common verbal judgment on September 30 and October 1, following an earlier order on September 29 that prohibited live-streaming or telecasting of proceedings due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The court rejected arguments that some accused, who themselves had converted to Islam, should be treated as victims rather than accused. It noted that while such individuals could have been considered victims initially, their subsequent acts of influencing, pressuring, or alluring others to convert—evident from the FIR and witness statements—establish prima facie offences.

“It is their further act of converting further people around 100 in numbers of 37 families to Islam would prima facie make out an offence against them and, therefore, I do not see any reason to interfere with the trial,” the court said.

According to the FIR, the complainant, a resident of Amod, alleged that in 2018 he was converted to Islam. During this process, he was taken to Surat and, through misrepresentation, was asked to put his thumb impression on a pre-filled document. Following this, his name was changed, and a new Aadhaar card was issued in his new name.

The FIR further states that one of the accused was receiving financial support from three individuals who had already converted around 100 people from 37 Hindu families to Islam, enticing them with money and other inducements.

According to the FIR, the complainant learned that this was part of a nationwide conspiracy to convert Hindus to Muslims, allegedly funded by substantial foreign financial aid. When he began resisting, he was threatened by the accused, who purportedly had connections stretching from Kashmir to Pakistan.

The complainant lodged a complaint with the police, leading to the registration of an FIR against nine named individuals. Following investigation, a total of 16 people were booked under IPC Sections 152(B), 153(A)(1), 295(A), and 120(B), some of whom later filed pleas seeking to quash the FIR. DeshGujarat