‘Conversion racket’ accused seek to restrain misreporting on their case, Allahabad HC reserves order

On July 2, the Allahabad High Court reserved its order on a petition by Umar Gautam and Jahangir Kasmi seeking to restrict the media from misreporting on their prosecution. They were arrested last month by the Uttar Pradesh police’s Anti Terrorist Squad, which accused them of being involved in a forced “conversion racket”.

Umar and Kasmi are associated with an organization called Islamic Da’wah Centre in Delhi.

The petition to the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, filed on June 29, lists as respondents TV channels Zee News, Sudarshan News, Aaj Tak, and the Hindu supremacist media website OpIndia, and makes the ATS a party for “issuing press releases providing sensitive information prejudicing with the petitioner’s right to fair trial”.

The plea references “news items” carried by these media platforms about Umar and Kasmi between June 21 and 26 which “outrageously and falsely insinuate that the petitioner was involved in conversion of 1,000 persons, including deaf and mute students through inducements”.

"It is pertinent to submit that this is an election year and efforts are on to increase religious divide between religious communities and news articles of such nature would further increase the religious divide in this society,” the petition adds, meaning early next year’s assembly election in UP, and goes on to cite a few such reports:

• A June 26 article on OpIndia titled “Mass conversion racket: Umar Gautam reveals how they targeted non-Muslim girls from rural areas as it is easier to lure, brainwash them”.
  

• A June 22 article on India Today website titled “UP govt orders action against Gangster Act, NSA against 2 arrested for conversion of disabled kids”.

• A June 22 news item on Zee News titled “DNA Special: ‘Conversion Jihad’ in secular India?”
  

• A Zee News broadcast titled ‘Dharmic jihadiyon ko bhi ghar me ghuskar…?’ and promoted with the hashtag ‘Conversion Terror’.

• Another Zee News broadcast titled ‘Dharmantaran jihad par sabse badi gawahi’.

Speaking to Newslaundry, Ashma Izzat, a lawyer representing Umar and Kasmi, said, “These news items have tried to distort facts of the case in an attempt to give it a communal colour. News items such as ‘Dharmic jihadi: Ghar me ghuskar..?’ pose a threat to the lives of petitioners hence these media organizations were made parties in the case.”