Delhi, 17 October (H.S.): The Supreme Court has quashed a First Information Report (FIR) filed against seven individuals, including R.B. Lal, the Vice-Chancellor of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), in a case involving the alleged mass religious conversion of 90 Hindus. The order was delivered by a bench presided over by Justice J.B. Pardiwala.

This decision follows the Supreme Court's earlier order on March 1, 2024, which granted regular bail to the seven accused. On December 19, 2023, the apex court had issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government while granting an interim stay on their arrests. Besides Vice-Chancellor Lal, the court had protected Rekha Patel, Professor Ramakant Dubey, Vinod Bihar Lal, Professor Ranu Prasad, David Philip, and Sunil Kumar John from arrest.

Previously, the Allahabad High Court had declined to halt the proceedings based on the FIR and had directed the accused to surrender before December 20, 2023. The High Court had observed that the matter concerned the interests of a large segment of society. It also noted that the investigating agency had presented evidence to substantiate the allegations of religious conversion, deeming the accusations extremely serious and not to be taken lightly.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar