A sessions court in Kheda district of Gujarat Saturday rejected the bail plea of two persons accused in a case lodged at Nadiad West police station in September for the alleged “foreign funded” religious conversion of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe persons, including minors, into Christianity.
The court considered the argument of the prosecution that forensic data recovery of the devices belonging to the accused had revealed that they had followed their modus operandi in other states too with money being the main motive for the conversions.
The 4th Additional Sessions Judge of Nadiad Sessions Court MJ Brahmabhatt rejected the bail plea filed by Steven Macwan (40) and Smitul Mahida (27) after the police filed the chargesheet in the case.
Both the accused are lodged at Bilodara sub jail following their arrest in September.
The case of the prosecution is that the two accused are trustees of an organisation called Restoration and Revival Foundation Trust and allegedly indulged in religious conversion of people hailing from ST-SC communities from Dahod, Tapi, Narmada, Bharuch, Panchmahal district in Gujarat as well as other states of India, including Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha, Haryana, Punjab, and Delhi.
The prosecution’s case is that the police have seized devices from the two accused that have revealed several videos and photos of the conversions being carried out while an investigation to trail a fund of Rs 1.33 crore deposited into the account of the accused from different parts of India and foreign countries is ongoing.
The prosecution has informed the court that the accused have converted people, including minors, in a total of seven batches. At the time when Macwan was arrested, 59 persons were rescued, including nine minors, according to the police.
On Saturday, the court considered the submissions of the prosecution that the digital evidence recovered by the police “has revealed names of several members of the tribal communities of Gujarat… The accused have also established contact with people in other states of the country to further their motives.”
While Macwan is the President of the Restoration Revival Foundation, Mahida – a relative of Macwan– was responsible for the accounting and financial administration of the foundation, the prosecution has stated.
The court considered the affidavit filed by the investigating officer that the accused had connections in foreign countries and therefore, the possibility of them trying to escape could not be ignored.
The court also considered submissions and stated that if the accused were to be released on bail they could “intimidate or lure witnesses, which includes minors as well as members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; and also attempt to destroy evidence or create threat for the family members of the witnesses.”
In their plea, the accused submitted before the court that FIR is based on “false accusations” by a complainant, who is not an affected person of the alleged conversion.
The court noted the submission from the plea, “The FIR is based on false allegations. There is no mention of the accused having lured the complainant or coerced religious conversion in the FIR… The person who has complained is a member of the Hindu Dharma Sena and the president of the Gau Raksha Samiti and has merely filed the complaint against the applicants (accused) to further his own publicity…”
The plea states that the investigation has not recorded the statement of any other persons who were alleged to have been at the spot at the time the alleged act was said to have taken place, when the accused were arrested.
“As per the provisions of the Sections invoked against the accused, the complainant ought to have been a minor, a woman or any member of the SC /ST community, which the complainant is not,” the accused submitted.
The plea stated that the complaint was a “pre-planned act” by the complainant and keeping the accused in prison for a long period would “amount to pre-trial conviction”.
Public Prosecutor Dhaval Barot told The Indian Express, “We brought to the notice of the court that the FSL had retrieved some deleted data from the devices and a total of one lakh names have been recovered; it is a matter of probe as the accused were mostly motivated by the funds they were getting for completing large-scale conversions more than the religious reasons… We have opposed the bail as they can influence witnesses and tamper with evidence… Moreover, the other accused involved in the racket are yet to be apprehended.”
The accused have been booked under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act dealing with conversion by fraud, coercion, or misrepresentation and without obtaining prior written permission from the district magistrate. The two accused have also been booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for abettor present when offence is committed, criminal conspiracy and causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender.