Far-left propaganda portal The Wire recently published an article showcasing the Uttar Pradesh Police in a bad light for arresting a group of 5 Muslim men who hoodwinked a Dalit family with superstitious claims of curing their illness by praying to their Muslim ‘saint’.
The men were arrested in the Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh on charges of unlawful religious conversion after they organised a commemorative prayer ceremony for a Muslim spiritual leader’s death anniversary at a Dalit family’s residence.
The individuals—Nooruddin (55), Meraj Hasan (32), Khalif (42), Irfan (46), and Mohammad Hanif (52)—were charged with criminal intimidation and violations under Sections 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.
The accused also got the Dalit family to build a mazar inside their residence. They persuaded the unsuspecting victims to pray to their saint to mitigate the health issues of Urmila, one of the members of the Dalit family, and alleviate their hardships.
According to a report published in the Times of India, the accused were arrested after Urmila filed a complaint that she was coerced to change her religion under threats while being promised treatment for her illness and involvement of Hindu advocacy groups that amplified her assertions and forced police to act.
According to Urmila Verma from Mohalla Purvi Tarous Baki Talaiya, Maudaha, she had been suffering from an illness for about two years. During this period, she met a person from Mohalla Chipathari in the Banda district, who introduced her to Nooruddin, an alleged cleric from Mohalla Kasoda Mathura Mandir in Maudaha. Nooruddin assured her that visiting a shrine would cure her condition.
Subsequently, Nooruddin and his nephews Merajul Hasan and Khaliq from Mohalla Ragaul visited Urmila’s home. They suggested constructing a shrine in a corner of her room and conducting prayers and a Urs ceremony. They allegedly discussed religious conversion with her family members.
On January 10, at around 2:30 a.m., Nooruddin, Khaliq, and Irfan Ahmad from Hussainia, along with Hanif Shah from Baki Talaiya, arrived at her residence. They performed the Urs ceremony and led prayers. The ceremony was reportedly halted for a brazen attempt to convert a Dalit Hindu family into Islam by promises of healing and financial inducements.
While The Wire mentioned in its report that the accused offered allurements and promises of curing her illness to get Urmila and her family to embrace Islam, the far-left publication did all it could to brand the accused as victims and the Hindu advocacy group, namely Bajrang Dal in this case, as the aggressor responsible for the predicament of the 5 Muslim men arrested for religious conversion.
The headline of the article “Uttar Pradesh Police Arrest 5 Muslim Men After Bajrang Dal Alleges ‘Conversion’ Plan” suggests that Bajrang Dal brought about the arrest of the 5 Muslim men and not the criminal activities they were involved in. The men were arrested on the complaint filed by the victim, yet The Wire crafted a headline that spotlights Bajrang Dal, a Hindu advocacy group that steadfastly supports Hindus around the country and is often the thorn in the side of the Islamists wanting to paint the society with its radicalising colours.
Arfa Khanum Sherwani, a propagandist with a penchant for supporting Islamist causes and who is a senior editor at The Wire, posted a tweet seeking to advance the portal’s attempt to demonise the police for doing its job and stopping Muslim zealots who consider bringing non-Muslims into the fold of Islam as their bounden duty, often employing a range of tools, including inducements, intimidation, and gaslighting, to achieve their goals.
Taking to alarmism, which she often does, presumably to keep Muslims in a state of perpetual fear, Arfa hyperbolically tweeted, “In Hindu Rashtra, simply being Muslim is a crime. You don’t need to break laws or commit any crime. All it takes is existing, breathing, & being who you are—and that alone makes you a target.”
In Hindu Rashtra,simply being Muslim is a crime.
— Arfa Khanum Sherwani (@khanumarfa) January 18, 2025
You don’t need to break laws or commit any crime. All it takes is existing,breathing, & being who you are—and that alone makes you a target
This is the ugly truth of a regime that criminalizes Muslims for daring to live as they are pic.twitter.com/RYrpPQ2EtD
She added, “This is the ugly truth of a regime that criminalizes Muslims for daring to live as they are”, for the arrest of men who took advantage of the misery of a Dalit family and attempted to convert them to Islam.
However, this is but one case where The Wire has subtly tried to shield Islamists using unfair means to indulge in religious conversions. In many instances in the past, the far-left publication has resorted to every trick in its propaganda playbook—from lying to gaslighting to conjuring up fictitious scares such as the Tek Fog and Meta fictional stories—as a part of its agenda to discredit the government and contribute towards its longstanding goal at effecting regime change.
