The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad arrested Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui in Meerut on Tuesday night 21.09.2021 on charges of alleged illegal religious conversions according to several media outlets. Maulana Siddiqui is president of Global Peace Center and Jamia Imam Waliullah Trust
The Anti-Terrorist Squad claimed that Kaleem Siddiqui was running India’s “biggest religious conversion syndicate”. Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said the Anti Terrorist Squad found that Siddiqui’s Jamia Imam Waliullah Trust was conducting illegal religious conversions in the name of running “communal harmony” programs.
Kumar said that the investigation by the Anti-Terrorist Squad revealed Kaleem Siddiqui’s role in the racket. He alleged that Siddiqui used to threaten and mislead people for conversion and prepared them for dawah, the act of inviting or calling people to embrace Islam.
Kumar alleged that the trust of Kaleem Siddiqui received huge amounts of foreign funds. “Investigation shows Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui’s trust received Rs 3 crore in foreign funding including Rs 1.5 crore from Bahrain,” Kumar claimed, according to ANI.
He claimed that Siddiqui used to fund madrasas and received money through illegal means for this. The police officer further claimed that Kaleem Siddiqui distributed his self-written literature for free for the purpose of conversion.
“He was trying to ensure that people believe that only shariyat arrangement could give justice to them,” the police officer alleged. “He used to emphasize that issues like Triple Talaq should be dealt under the light of shariyat.”
Muslim Community has heavily condemned the action. One prominent politician from the Community said “Famous Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui Sahab has been arrested ahead of the elections in Uttar Pradesh,” he said on Twitter. “The atrocities on Muslims are increasing. The silence of secular parties on these issues is giving more strength to the BJP. How much more will BJP fall to win the UP elections?”
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