Religious conversion case: SC grants interim protection from arrest to SHUATS VC, others

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest to the vice-chancellor and other officials of Uttar Pradesh's Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology, and Sciences (SHUATS) in connection with a case of illegal religious conversion.

The case in which Vice-Chancellor Rajendra Bihari Lal and others have sought relief pertains to allegations of rape, illegal religious conversion and immoral trafficking. The FIR against them was lodged by a woman on November 4, 2023 in Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

A vacation bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice K V Vishwanathan stayed the Allahabad High Court order and issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on a plea filed by the vice-chancellor.

The high court, in its December 11 order, said, "Since the petitioners are accused of heinous offence, we direct that they should surrender before the majesty of the Court on or before December 20, 2023 and apply for regular bail. The bail application of the accused petitioners shall be heard and decided by the court concerned thoroughly on merits as expeditiously as possible unaffected by any of the observations." The woman, a former contractual employee of the university, had accused them of sexual exploitation and religious conversion after offering her a job at the university.

Lal and other accused, who are also employees of the university, contended before the high court that the FIR was driven by malafide as she had been sacked.