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On Tuesday, Kanpur District Court of Uttar Pradesh sentenced a man named Javed @Munna to ten years of jail and a fine of Rs. 10,000 under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which provides punishment for rape. However, the judgment is being widely misreported in the mainstream media as being the first conviction under State's law against forceful conversion. 

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar Srivastava pronounced the judgment in an open court wherein Javed was held guilty under sections 363, 366A, 376 of IPC and section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act).

As per court's order, apart from the sentence as awarded under section 376 of IPC, Javed will also undergo 5 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) with fine of Rs. 5,000 for his conviction under section 363 IPC, 5 years of RI with fine of Rs. 7,000 for his conviction under section 366A of IPC and 7 years of RI with fine of Rs. 8,000 for his conviction under section 4 of the POCSO Act. 

However, the court has directed that all these sentences will run concurrently.

Despite the order being very clear and having been announced in the open court, the mainstream media is terming it as the first conviction under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 despite the fact that the order does not earmark any offence under this Act.

Facts of the case

The incident dates back to the year 2017. As per the victim girl's statement under sections 161 and 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, on May 15, she had gone with Javed willingly, however, she had been lied to about where they were going.

As per her statement, when she was returning from her school, Javed met her and offered her an outing around the city. As she already knew Javed, she went with him. 

Besides this fact, the girl had, however, alleged that thereafter Javed had kept her forcefully and raped her for two days under the threat that if she runs or tells anybody, he will harm her and her family.

The court's order itself reads that the victim girl in her chief examination had also stated that she knew Javed as Javed's sister was in her school class. At the time of the incident, the girl was a student of class 11th and was 17 years of age.

The court's order nowhere states that Javed was ever charged with any offence under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. It is also to be noted that though Javed was also tried under section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, however, the court did not find him guilty under these charges. 

Case Title: State of UP v. Javed @Munna