Activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) staged a protest in the Hazratganj area of Lucknow on Friday over allegations of forced religious conversions at the prestigious King George’s Medical University (KGMU).
Demanding swift and strict action against those involved, a large number of VHP leaders and workers raised slogans that said: ‘Stop love jihad’. They also accused the authorities of failing to curb what they claimed were suspicious activities on the KGMU campus.
The protest came a day after police arrested KGMU intern, Mohammad Adil, in an alleged rape and blackmail case involving a nursing student, who had alleged that Adil befriended her, sexually assaulted her on the promise of marriage and recorded objectionable videos.
According to police, the woman, a resident of a paying guest accommodation in Aliganj, claimed that Adil, who lived in a flat in Kaiserbagh, refused to marry her and threatened to circulate her videos on social media when she pressured him.
An FIR was lodged on December 29, and her statement was later recorded before a magistrate. Adil was arrested on Thursday and sent to jail. The case is now being probed by the Special Task Force (STF).
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Local VHP leader Vijay Pratap alleged that the incidents pointed to an organised attempt at religious conversion. “The efforts of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal workers have led to this revelation. There are more people behind this conspiracy who need to be brought to book,” he said, and also demanded the removal of certain KGMU officials.
Officials have drawn similarities to another KGMU sexual exploitation and alleged religious conversion case, but clarified that no direct link has been established so far.
They are, however, probing if Adil had any contact with Ramizuddin Naik, a junior resident doctor at KGMU who was expelled after being accused of sexual exploitation and religious conversion.
Naik was arrested earlier this month on charges of sexually exploiting a woman doctor on the promise of marriage, forcing her to undergo an abortion, threatening her and pressuring her to convert her religion.
He is currently in jail, but a senior officer said the police will move to seek Naik’s custody as part of its probe into the suspected ring of organised religious conversion in the state capital since the Uttar Pradesh Police is examining the case as a possible organised religious conversion racket.
Naik was expelled from the MD course at KGMU after an internal inquiry, including a Vishakha Committee report, found the charges to be true prima facie. The university’s vice chancellor had also briefed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the findings and the action taken.
Meanwhile, the police have also questioned a Muslim cleric from Pilibhit in connection with the case and said further investigation is underway to ascertain the sequence of events and the possible involvement of other people.
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