Woman, father accused of Ayush Malik’s conversion granted bail

The bail order comes more than a month after the chief judicial magistrate's court rejected the bail pleas of the woman and her father.

Shamli: A district court in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli has granted bail to a woman named Chandni Qureshi and her father, Islam Qureshi, who were arrested for the alleged forced religious conversion of a 30-year-old Ayush Malik, a medicine trader, on the pretext of marriage.

District and Sessions Judge Inder Preet Singh Josh allowed their bail applications on Friday, July 24.

According to defence counsel Meherban Qureshi, police registered a case against nine persons and arrested Chandni Qureshi and her father after Devraj Malik alleged that his son, Ayush Malik, was forcefully converted to Islam to marry Chandni in June.

The complainant claimed the alleged conversion was part of a conspiracy to usurp his property.

Devraj Malik also alleged that his son was taken to Delhi, where the marriage ceremony was conducted using forged documents.

The bail order comes more than a month after the chief judicial magistrate’s court rejected the bail pleas of Chandni and Islam Qureshi, observing that no grounds for granting bail had been made out.

Police had registered the case against nine persons, including a cleric, and arrested Chandni and her father on June 7.