Shamli: The road outside Bharat Medical Store in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district is teeming with the usual chaos and conversation. Some wait for their turn, while others break the queue, impatiently flashing prescription slips at an overstimulated chemist. And, almost everyone who visits the medical store confirms the news that broke out in early June. 

The store is operated by the Malik family, who also own two other medical shops on the same road. The one under their family home has been shut for over a week now and the one at the end of the road continues to welcome customers. Pointing at the now eerie-looking Malik house, onlookers eagerly whisper among themselves and discuss Ayush Malik.

Accusations and arrests

In early June, Ayush Malik, a 27-year-old man living in Shamli, was faced with a barrage of cameras, slurs and accusations after Swami Yashveer Maharaj, the head of the Sadhana Ashram in Baghra, Shamli, claimed that he was forced to convert to Islam as authorities stood by. 

Maharaj alleged that Ayush was brainwashed by his wife, Chandni Qureshi and her father, Islam Qureshi. He threatened to call a Hindu mahapanchayat in the Qureshi locality on June 12, if action was not taken. 

On June 6, Ayush’s father, Devraj Malik, filed a first information report (FIR) at Shamli Kotwali police station, under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2021, and multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Devraj alleged that his son was lured into a romantic relationship by a Muslim woman and subsequently pressured into converting to Islam. 

Shamli Police have arrested nine individuals in connection with Ayush Malik conversion case, Photo: Tarushi Aswani.

The FIR, assessed by The Wire, names nine members of the woman’s family, accusing them of orchestrating the conversion, preparing a purportedly fraudulent nikah-nama (Islamic marriage........

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