Anti-conversion law comes into play: Cops arrest Syed Mueen

Bengaluru, Oct 15: A Muslim man has been arrested and remanded to judicial custody under the recently promulgated Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, for 'converting a woman under the pretext of marrying her.'

According to the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Bengaluru North Division, Vinayak Patil, the case was registered against Syed Mueen on a complaint lodged by the mother of the woman, news agency PTI reported.

A missing case was registered on October 6 following a complaint by the 18-year-old woman's mother the previous day.

Following this, the man and the woman were questioned at the police station on October 8.

The woman's mother again lodged a complaint on Thursday night that her daughter had been converted to another religion by Syed Mueen on the pretext of marrying her.

Accordingly, a case has been registered under section 5 of the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act and the accused has been arrested and remanded to judicial custody, Patil told reporters.

According to the complainant, the religious conversion took place at Penukonda in Andhra Pradesh, he added.

Under the Act, any aggrieved person, his parents, brother, sister, or any other person, who is related to him by blood, marriage or adoption may lodge a First Information Report of such conversion, which contravenes the provisions of section-3. Whoever contravenes the provisions shall be punished with imprisonment, according to the law.