Umar Gautam Convicted in Illegal Religious Conversion Case

A special Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) court in Uttar Pradesh has convicted Umar Gautam and 15 others in a 2021 illegal religious conversion case. The court will hear arguments on sentencing. Gautam and his associates were converting students with hearing disabilities and poor individuals to Islam, reportedly funded by Pakistan's ISI.

A special Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) court of the Uttar Pradesh Police has delivered a verdict convicting Umar Gautam and 15 others in connection with a high-profile illegal religious conversion case from 2021.

All the convicted individuals have been taken into custody and will appear in court on Wednesday for sentencing arguments, according to the court order.

Umar Gautam and Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi were apprehended from Delhi's Jamia Nagar by the Uttar Pradesh ATS on June 20, 2021. They were accused of leading an organization that converted individuals, including students with hearing disabilities and economically disadvantaged people, to Islam, with funding allegedly sourced from Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI.

The arrests followed the registration of an FIR at the Lucknow ATS police station. Gautam resided in Delhi's Batla House and had previously converted to Islam from Hinduism. During interrogation, he claimed to have converted at least 1,000 people, using marriage, money, and job offers as incentives, according to Director General of Police Prashant Kumar.

The organization, known as the Islamic Da'wah Centre, reportedly had access to foreign funding, including from ISI, according to police reports.

(With inputs from agencies.)