On April 5, the Allahabad High Court denied bail to Irfan Shaikh, alias Irfan Khan for his involvement in the illegal conversion of hearing and speech impaired students to Islam at the Sign Language Training and Research Centre in New Delhi. Shaikh was a government-appointed sign language interpreter at the institute.
The Police investigation revealed that he was allegedly a crucial link in the nationwide illegal conversation racket headed by Umar Gautam. Notably, Gautam, a convert himself, was arrested last year. He was head of the Islamic Dawah Centre, an organization allegedly involved in illegal conversions.
Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Brij Raj Singh noted in the order, “Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, particularly the fact that the Investigating Officer, after due investigation, has found cogent and clinching evidence against the appellant that with the connivance of co-accused Umar Gautam and others, the appellant is involved in anti-national activities of conversion by misusing his official position while working in Sign Language Training and Research Centre, New Delhi as Interpreter, we do no find any good ground to grant bail to the appellant.”
In his appeal against the orders passed by Special Judge of NIA/ATS Additional District Sessions Judge Lucknow, he had claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case. He had also said that his name was not mentioned in the First Investigation Report. His counsel claimed that the trial Court had rejected bail based on conjectures and surmised without considering the statements of all the witnesses.
The court, however, noted that though his name was not in the FIR, his involvement surfaced based on statements of Rahul Bhola and Jahangir, co-accused in the case. “During the investigation, the Investigating Agency found that appellant- Irfan Khan had played an indispensable role in the conversion of hearing and speech impaired persons by misrepresentation, allurement and fraudulent means and has played a special role in persuading the hearing and speech impaired students in sign language,” the court said.
The case of mass conversion in Uttar Pradesh
In June 2021, it was reported that Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) had made multiple arrests, including Umar Gautam, Jahangir Qasmi and others, for their involvement in the mass conversion activities. ATS had initiated an investigation based on a tip that some anti-national and anti-social elements were involved in converting people to Islam at the behest of ISI and foreign organizations.
The investigating agencies found that Umar Gautam and his associates were running an organization named Islamic Dawah Centre with the aim of converting people to Islam, and they were receiving a huge cache of funds from foreign countries.
Irfan Shaikh had played an important role in converting hearing and speech impaired people to Islam by fraudulent means. A charge sheet was filed against the accused people, including Shaikh, under Sections 120B, 121A, 123, 153A, 153B, 295A, 298, 417 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3, 5 and 8 of Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, (Act).