In a case involving forced religious conversion, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (19th December) granted Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology, and Sciences (SHUATS) administrators and faculty temporary protection from arrest.
A vacation bench comprised of Justices Aniruddha Bose and KV Viswanathan also requested the Uttar Pradesh government’s response to the issue and scheduled the case for the court’s reopening, subject to directives from the Chief Justice of India.
“Issue notice. There shall be an interim order protecting the petitioners from arrest in connection with FIR 305/2020”, the bench ordered. The Supreme Court was hearing a petition in a case involving an attempt to convert people to Christianity filed by the Director of SHUATS Vinod Bihari Lal, his brother Rajendra Bihari Lal, the Vice-Chancellor, and five other professors.
The complaint in the case was filed on 4th November. The petitioners have asked for both permanent anticipatory bail and the case to be quashed. On 11th December, the Allahabad High Court dismissed their appeal in this regard and ordered the petitioners to turn themselves in by 20th December. This resulted in an appeal to the highest court.
The dismissal was sought for the case filed by an ex-university Hindi stenographer who alleged that the petitioners attempted to convert her and other girls from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to Christianity through coercion.
Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, who was representing the petitioners during today’s hearing, said that there was a serious urgency because the right to anticipatory bail was being violated. “The High Court says since this is a heinous offence the accused must surrender before the majesty of court. My right of anticipatory bail is gone. It is a University established in 1910, and if you read the FIR it is like some corruption scam,” he argued.
The bench then issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and stayed the High Court order till January 5. “There shall be a stay on impugned judgment till January 12, or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” the bench stated.
Earlier, in a separate case involving the Lal brothers and religious conversion racket, the Supreme Court had in March 2023 halted their arrest and requested the State of Uttar Pradesh’s response.
The Director and VC had petitioned the Supreme Court for relief after the Allahabad High Court denied their anticipatory bail applications on February 28. The Sessions Court’s ruling was also upheld by the High Court.
Previously called Allahabad Agricultural University, SHUATS is a well-known university in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
90 people of the Hindu religion were gathered to convert to Christianity
According to the reports, the FIR, in this case, was filed last year in April 2022 in response to a complaint made by a person named Himanshu Dixit alleging that about 90 people of the Hindu religion had gathered at the Evangelical Church of India in Hariharganj, Fatehpur, to convert them to Christianity through coercion, undue influence, and the promise of easy money, among other tactics.
The government officials arrived at the scene after receiving this information and questioned the pastor, Vijay Massiah, who allegedly admitted that the conversion process had been ongoing for 34 days and was expected to be finished in 40 days.
8 of the SHAUTS officials were booked for conversion through coercion
Before that, it was reported that another FIR was filed against eight officials of SHUATS including the vice-chancellor and two pro-vice-chancellors for allegedly luring Hindus and forcing them to convert their religion to Christianity. The officials were booked under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance 2020. RB Lal had pled that he was not named in the FIR. However, he was later implicated in subsequent stages based on the statement given by two witnesses whom he alleged were ‘biased’ against him.
The FIR was filed based on the complaint registered by a University’s former student named Savendra Vikram Singh on January 20 this year. The complainant stated that he was told that in exchange for converting to Christianity, he could have a job, Rs 15 thousand in cash, and ‘marriage to a beautiful girl’ in Fatehpur.
Police seized 70 bank accounts of Universities and NGOs founded by V-C
In January 2023, the Kotwali Police station in Fatehpur seized 70 bank accounts of the university, and the trust founded by Lal. Vice-Chancellor Bishop Rajendra B Lal is the founder of an NGO named Yeshu Darbar Trust which holds religious congregations in around 12 of its centres in Prayagraj and other cities of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Jharkhand.
“Of the 70 bank accounts, four belong to the trust and the rest are that of the university. The Trust has 12 centres across three states, UP, Jharkhand, and Gujarat. An FIR was earlier lodged against people associated with the Gujarat centre years ago,” the police was quoted as saying.
Two old cases against SHAUTS were recently reopened
As the police began an investigation into the cases filed in April 2022 and January this year, two old cases registered against the University were reopened.
One case filed by Rakesh Dwivedi in 2012, accused the university’s top brass of getting arm licenses illegally by submitting fake information about names and addresses. The other one said that the University had not been granted minority status by the government but it claimed so.
In 2012, a case was filed against University Vice Chancellor Rajendra B. Lal, director (administration) Vinod B. Lal, current registrar Robin L. Prasad, and then registrar Ajai Lawrence under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record).
The FIR stated that the accused provided fake names and fake signatures despite holding government posts and took licenses for arms, revolvers, rifles, and double-barreled guns from DM Pratapgarh. It stated that, despite having lived in Prayagraj since 1980, the defendants had shown their addresses to be in Sadar Bazar, Pratapgarh, while holding government positions.
The incident was investigated, and the investigating officer produced a final report (FR, a predecessor to the closure report) in March 2012 after concluding that the accused were not deficient under the sections implicated. Furthermore, the STF is investigating charges that the university did not get minority institution designation from the National Commission for Minority Education Institutions (NCMEI), the authority authorized to provide minority status to educational institutions.
Also on November 8, 2019, the UGC stated in an RTI response to Prayagraj-based Suvrat Kumar Singh, who had written to the UGC inquiring if SHUATS had minority institution status, that minority status is not awarded by it to an educational institution. Since the NCMEI grants minority status, the UGC submitted the inquiry to the commission, which responded on December 11, 2019, that it has not bestowed minority status certificates to SHUATS.
