New Delhi: The stringent sentences, ranging from ten yearس to life imprisonment recently awarded by a lower court against Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, Dr Umar Gautam and others for alleged “forceful conversion” of some people to Islam are wrong and a grave misuse of law and judiciary, said Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, President of the apex Muslim body, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, and former Chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission. He said the ten years to life imprisonment sentences meted out by a lower court against the well-known Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqi, Dr Umar Gautam and others are a grave misuse of law and courts. The provincial “law” used for these questionable convictions directly violates Articles 25 to 28 of the Indian Constitution which give every Indian citizen the right to profess, preach and promote any religion.

These so-called “convicts” believe in Islam as the true religion and tried to convey the same message to others. There is nothing wrong or illegal if they received any foreign monetary help for their work. The fact is that Hindus, Christians and Buddhists freely receive thousands of times more monetary help from abroad to propagate their faiths and plans.

Dr Khan said that followers of Hindutva are active since long to entice poor Muslims and Christians using the bait of money and jobs to lure them to embrace Hinduism under the slogan of “Gharwapsi” yet no action has been taken against them till date despite their triumphant declarations every now and then about the success of the “Gharwapsi” plan. This proves that the purpose of the said provincial unconstitutional “law” is to harass minorities. Dr Khan expressed his hope that higher courts will soon overturn this “verdict” of a lower court.