A district court in Bulandshahr has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for deceiving and sexually assaulting a Scheduled Caste woman and subsequently forcing her conversion to Islam.
This is the first case under the Religious Conversion Act, where the guilty has been sentenced to life term.
The SC/ST court further imposed a fine of Rs 4.45 lakh on accused Aneesh Ahmed, who was convicted for sexually assaulting a Scheduled Caste woman from Hapur and forcing her religious conversion.
Special Prosecutor Vipul Raghav said the incident dated back to March 2022, when a Scheduled Caste woman filed a complaint alleging that a man named Anish Ahmed, posing as a Hindu named Akash Kumar, lured her into a relationship.
He said the man concealed his real name and religion and proposed marriage to the woman. After eight months into the relationship, the woman discovered his real identity and filed a complaint at the Gulaothi police station in Bulandshahr on March 15, 2022.
As per the woman, Anish deceitfully converted her religion and sexually exploited her. She also accused him of absconding with Rs 2.5 lakh in cash and a gold chain belonging to her.
A case was registered under various Sections of the IPC, including Sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), as well as Sections 3, 2, 5, and 3/5 of the SC/ST Act against Anish.
The SC/ST court on Wednesday found the accused guilty on all counts and sentenced him to life imprisonment.