Two held for minor Dalit boy's religious conversion by circumcising him in UP's Barabanki

Sinha said police have registered a case under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021 along with the SC-ST Act and arrested Murshid and his father Ali on Thursday.

A case has been registered against three people for allegedly converting a 15-year-old Dalit boy by circumcising him in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki. Police arrested two accused and is on a lookout for the third, they said. Additional Superintendent of Police (North) Chiranjeev Nath Sinha said on Friday that the minor boy, a resident of Azamgarh, was brought by Murshid, who works as a scrap dealer, and his father Riyasat Ali about two years ago by luring him with a job and got him employed at a restaurant in Nabiganj. When the restaurant owner came to know that the boy was an orphan and Dalit, he allegedly got him circumcised and converted and named him Noor Mohammad a few months ago. A complaint regarding the matter was lodged by a local right wing Hindu leader at the Kotwali police station on Thursday. Sinha said police have registered a case under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021 along with the SC-ST Act and arrested Murshid and his father Ali on Thursday. The restaurant owner is still absconding.