Prominent Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui who has been jailed under draconian anti-conversion law on Wednesday walked out of jail after 590 days of imprisonment.
He was granted bail in an anti-conversion case by Allahabad High Court a month ago.
Siddiqui was arrested by the Anti-Terrorist Squad of Uttar Pradesh on 21 September 2021.
Siddiqui is one of the prominent scholars from western Uttar Pradesh and the president of the Global Peace Center as well as Jamia Imam Waliullah Trust.
More than a dozen Muslims including two Muslim scholars Mohammad Umar Gautam and Mufti Quazi Jahangeer Quasmi have been languishing in jail in the same under the draconian anti-conversion law.
The UP ATS had claimed that it had busted the alleged illegal conversion racket last year being run under the guidance of Mohammad Umar Gautam and Kaleem Siddiqui who were using psychological pressure for forceful conversions, as part of their plan to set up an Islamic state and received funding from different countries to carry out conversions.
Soon after his arrest, parliamentarians, MLAs, community leaders, and activists said that the detention violated the veteran Muslim leader’s constitutional rights at every stage.
“Siddiqui’s fault is that he believed in Constitution which gives him the right to profess and preach any religion,” said Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, former chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission.
