The Allahabad High Court recently expressed concern over the rising religious fanaticism among the youth in the country, calling it a disturbing trend. The High Court’s remarks came during the hearing of writ petitions filed by two Muslim school girls, Aleena alias Aleena Parveen and Shabiya, seeking the quashing of the FIR against them. The FIR was lodged against the Muslim girls, studying in class 12th, under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, for forcing their religious beliefs on their Hindu friend.
A Division Bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena dismissed the writ petition filed by the Muslim girls. It refused to intervene in the investigation by stating that a prima facie case was made out against them. “If this kind of trend comes to be seen amongst young people, it is all the more disturbing. This is the time in their lives when they should be thinking more towards developing their skills in different fields of education and dedicate themselves to the service of society and the nation,” the Court said, declining the petitions.
The High Court, in its order dated April 16, 2026, went on to explain the significance of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, amid the growing trends of people imposing their religious beliefs on others. “We must be alive to the situation that the Act of 2021 was enacted to curtail an emergent situation in society, where certain persons go about not professing or propagating their religion, but thrusting it upon others in the belief which somehow makes it to their mind the religion they believe in must be followed by others,” the High Court stated.
The High Court highlighted how the legislation was the need of the hour to address the problem of religious coercion and forced religious conversion. “The Act of 2021 was brought to curtail this emergent mischief, which is heard from different quarters in the country these days, and of which we must take judicial notice. A statute that is enacted to curtail an emergent mischief, if stopped in its tracks at the very early stages of its enforcement, would bog down the statute and frustrate its purpose,” the court added.
Background of the case
The FIR was filed by the victim’s brother on January 22, 2026, at the Police Station Bilari, Moradabad, under Sections 3 and 5(1) of the 2021 Act. In the FIR, the victim’s brother stated that the Muslim girls study along with her sister, Kumari Mahima, at a coaching centre located in Shahukunj Colony, located in Town Bilai, Moradabad. He accused the Muslim girls of forcefully making his sister, Kumari Mahima, wear a burqa and pressuring her to accept Islam. He expressed the suspicion that there could be a larger conspiracy behind the act of the accused and urged the police to investigate it.
Denying the allegations against her, Aleena said that the FIR against her was filed out of vengeance as she allegedly turned down a romantic proposal from the victim’s brother. She alleged that the victim’s brother used to stalk her and, on one occasion, proposed to her.
The victim, in her statement given to the Judicial Magistrate under Section 183 BNSS, narrated the entire incident that happened on January 20, 2026. According to the victim, after the coaching classes, her friend Aleena and four of Aleena’s Muslim friends, namely, Malishka, Shabiya, Rimsha and Zehra, invited her to a restaurant for some snacks. Before leaving for the restaurant, Aleena forced her to wear a veil (burqa), which she had carried with her. When the victim refused to wear it, all the Muslim girls forcefully made her wear the burqa, and they proceeded towards the restaurant. The victim did not disclose anything to her mother, as Aleena had forbidden her.
The victim said that Aleena tried to brainwash her into accepting Islam. Aleena and the four other girls kept saying that their religion was good. They told the victim that there was freedom in their religion and that they could go anywhere after wearing the burqa. They also told her things about the Quran and said that the entire Quran could be read in 40 days. The victim also told the Judicial Magistrate that Aleena and the four girls often brought non-vegetarian food and forced her to eat it. When she refused to consume it, they told her to at least eat the gravy. The accused girls also repeatedly asked the victim to accept Islam.
The High Court examined the footage of a CCTV camera which was located close to the place where the victim was made to wear the burqa by the Muslim girls. The court noted that no FIR was filed by Aleena against the victim’s brother, even though she alleged that he stalked and proposed to her.
“Quite apart, the stand of the victim before the learned Judicial Magistrate cannot be trashed. It carries all the necessary facts, which would prima facie attract the provisions of Sections 3 and 5(1) of the Act of 2021,” the High Court stated in its order, adding that, “In the totality of circumstances, we do not find it to be a fit case where we ought interdict investigation and quash the impugned FIR”.
