2021 Bharuch 'Forced Religious Conversion' Case: Gujarat High Court Refuses To Discharge Five, Notes Prima Facie Case Made Out
The Gujarat High Court refused to interfere with a trial court order which had declined to discharge five men booked in 2021 in an alleged case of forced religious conversion in Bharuch, remarking that it cannot in revisional jurisdiction conduct a mini trial and can only find out if a prima facie case is made out.
The five petitioners had moved the high court challenging a trial court order which had refused to discharge them in a case lodged under Section 4 (punishment for forcible conversion) of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003 read with IPC Sections 120(B)(criminal conspiracy), 153B(1)(c) (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 506(2)(criminal intimidation).
Justice Gita Gopi in her order said:
"Having regard to the statements of the witnesses as referred by learned APP and the charge-sheet which has been filed against the present applicants, prima-facie there is a case as alleged under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003. In the revisional jurisdiction, the Court has the authority to only find out whether there is prima-facie case against the applicant/s. The Court cannot run a mini trial to find out the credibility and authenticity of the statements of the witnesses and the evidence collected by the investigating officer.
In addition, the trial Court has also noted that there are many documents which have been fraudulently created in the form of Aadhar Card as well as electronic records, these have been forged and have been used as true. The members of the SC and ST community have been threatened. Section 153A and 153A of the IPC was also invoked. The learned trial Court Judge has considered the prima-facie evidence against the accused and had also added the provisions of Sections 466, 467 and 471 of IPC and Sections 3(2)(5-A) and 3(2)(5) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 by an order dated 30.11.2021".
The court referred to State of Maharashtra v. Priya Sharan Maharaj (1997) wherein it was held that at the stage of Sections 227(discharge) and 228(Framing of charge) (CrPC), the Court is required to evaluate the material and documents on record with a view to find out if the facts taken at its face value disclose the existence of the ingredients constituting the alleged offence.
It thus said:
"The Court therefore, need not dwell all the materials on record and minutely deal with each of the statements and proof. The prima-facie satisfaction of the trial Court Judge to come to the conclusion of sufficiency of material to frame the charge is the real test. In view of the aforesaid discussion, this Court does not find any reason to entertain the present application as the same is devoid of merits and thus, the same stands rejected".
The petitioners argued that they were not named in the FIR but came to be added during the course of investigation. It was submitted that no role has been attributed to the petitioners. Despite that, the charge-sheet has been filed where the investigating officer was required to file a Report under Section 189 BNSS. It was argued that they have been falsely implicated in the case. It was also submitted that for the sole purpose of sensationalizing the issue, innocent persons have been arraigned as accused which is a clear abuse of process of law.
The State submitted that this was a case of large scale conspiracy with a scheme of converting the whole village where a large population of SC and ST members are there and by alluring them, by offering them incentives in the form of cash and things, which has been referred to in the statement of individual witnesses. State submitted that conversion also happened by way of fraudulent marriage and all the co-accused are connected in the act.
State submitted that with respect to two petitioners which it said that converted to Islam and referred to various witness statements for the same. The State also referred to witness statements who had stated about forcible conversion and the fact of being threatened and of providing economic assistance to the members of the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST).
The State argued that there was evidences in the form of Whatsapp Chats, videos, lectures, which have been made viral affecting the religious sentiments of the people of the Hindu community and create animosity between two communities.
With respect to another petitioner, the State alleged that he had delivered lectures affecting religious sentiments and had created animosity between two communities. It was alleged that he had allured the members of the SC and ST community by gifts in cash as well as kind. The statements of the witnesses suggest that money had been provided by the petitioners and the allegations are of funding.
The court dismissed the petition.
Case title: YUSUFBHAI JIVANBHAI PATEL @ MAHENDRABHAI JIVABHAI VASAVA & ORS. v/s STATE OF GUJARAT
R/CRIMINAL REVISION APPLICATION (AGAINST ORDER PASSED BY SUBORDINATE COURT) NO. 2 of 2025