The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to place before it all materials relating to the charges against Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui who was arrested on September 2021 for allegedly running a mass religious conversion racket.
A bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sanjay Kumar passed the direction while adjourning till September 5 the Uttar Pradesh government’s appeal challenging an Allahabad High Court order granting bail to Siddiqui in April this year.
Additional advocate-general Garima Prashad, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, submitted that the state had enough material to prove Siddiqui’s alleged involvement in the crime as the main conspirator. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the accused, disputed the claim.
During the arguments before the apex court, Prashad said the high court had granted bail to Siddiqui solely on the ground that his co-accused were granted the relief. “He is the main accused and key conspirator in the case,” the law officer said.
She said investigations “had revealed a network of people across the nation working towards an objective of waging war against the country, the Constitution and replacing the Constitution with the Sharia law”.