The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday allowed the bail plea of Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, who was arrested on charges of alleged conversion, paving the way for his release.
Amir Naqvi, senior HC lawyer and member of the legal team handling the case of Maulana Siddiqui, said that Maulana’s bail was heard in the court of Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi. He said that senior counsel IB Singh appeared for Kaleem Siddiqui whereas counsel Talhari argued for NIA.
It may be noted that the Anti Terror Squad (ATS) of the Uttar Pradesh Police had arrested Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui in 2021 claiming to have unearthed an alleged religious conversion group in the country funded from foreign sources. At the time of Maulana’s arrest, the police had claimed that he was involved in religious conversion and the exercise was carried out in the guise of various educational and social institutions at the national level.
After the arrest of Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, the ATS arrested several people in connection with the alleged conversion. Prior to this case, the ATS had arrested Maulana Umar Gautam and Jehangir Alam on June 20 and claimed that these people were carrying out forced conversions on a large scale.
