Fatehpur: Truck driver held for bid to convert wife, parents, say cops

Vijay lives in Delhi and regularly visits home at Purmai village in Fatehpur. He returned to Fatehpur on Friday.

“Poonam Devi, who is pregnant, claimed when she refused to read the Quran and adopt Islam, Vijay started hitting her. Vijay also threatened to leave her and stop giving money. She also claimed Vijay threatened her to never return home if she did not convert to Islam,” said Khakhreru station house officer Virendra Singh Yadav. Vijay and Poonam married in 2016 and have a three-year-old girl.

Acting on the complaint, police filed an FIR against Vijay under IPC sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation). The anti-conversion law has also been invoked against him.

Vijay was arrested from near his house on Sunday and later produced before a local court, which sent him to judicial custody, said police.

Vijay’s father Jagmohan told police that the accused threatened to marry his sister to a Muslim man, said the SHO.

“During interrogation, Vijay told police that his family used to earlier live in Haldwani in Uttarakhand before moving to Fatehpur a year ago. Vijay claimed that he had converted to Islam in Haldwani after being convinced by his friend, who is also a truck driver,” said the SHO.