AMU students protest against Islamic scholar Siddiqui's arrest in conversion racket case

LUCKNOW: A group of students in Aligarh Muslim University held a march in the campus on Friday to protest against the arrest of Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui for allegedly running a conversion syndicate. Siddiqui was arrested from Meerut last week and a local court remanded him in judicial custody till October 5.

In Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad asked people to share any information related to Siddiqui and another accused Mohammad Umar Gautam. The protesters in Aligarh handed over a memorandum addressed to the president to a senior official of AMU. In the memorandum, they said the arrest of some Muslim clerics over alleged unlawful religious conversions and the "harassment and eviction of Muslims in Assam on the citizenship issue were creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity in the minds of Muslims".

"Such witch-hunting of minorities would pose a threat to the peace and stability in the country," the memorandum added. Siddiqui was arrested three months after Delhi's Jamia Nagar residents Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi and Gautam were apprehended by the ATS. Qasmi and Gautam were running Islamic Dawah Centre, an outfit allegedly working on the ISI funding for converting deaf-mute students to Islam, according to officials.

The ATS has so far arrested 11 people, including Siddiqui, in connection with a religious conversion racket case. Those arrested were booked under relevant sections of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2020 and the Indian Penal Code, the officials said. A senior police official on Friday said any information about Siddqui and Gautam's accomplices, family members, moveable and immovable assets, etc. can be shared on mobile number 9792103156 and email ID controlroom.ats-up@gov.in.

"After the court's order, the ATS took Siddiqui in police custody for 10 days on Friday. We have released a mobile number and an email ID for the people to share any information about Siddiqui and Gautam," he said.

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