Summary: The Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow Bench has refused ‘post-conviction bail’ to Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui and Mohd. Umar Gautam, the masterminds of a mass conversion racket that targeted vulnerable Hindus, along with six others against whom the evidence was held to be ‘very serious’. Eight convicts, described as associates facing comparatively ‘lighter allegations’, were granted bail. Justices Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra passed the common order on 4 November in 16 appeals against the NIA special court’s 11 September 2024 judgment.
Why it matters: The ringleaders of an organised Islamic conversion racket stay in custody while their appeals are heard, but other convicts have obtained relief due to ‘less serious’ charges as per the HC. In Bharat, where influential counsel use dilatory tactics until the delay itself becomes the ground for bail, a conviction is merely a waiting room, unlike in more accountable judiciaries, where a convict must first show his appeal is likely to succeed before he walks out.
“Religious Conversion Case: Allahabad HC Grants Bail to 8 Convicts, Rejects Bail Pleas of Umar Gautam, Kaleem Siddiqui” — LawBeat, 6 Nov 2026
The Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) has granted post-conviction bail to eight persons convicted in the alleged illegal mass religious conversion case, while rejecting the bail applications of eight others, including alleged masterminds Mohd. Umar Gautam and Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui.
A division bench of Justices Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra passed the common order on November 4 while deciding bail applications filed in 16 criminal appeals challenging the September 11, 2024 judgment of the Special Judge, National Investigation Agency (NIA), Lucknow.
The eight convicts granted bail are Mannu Yadav, Abdullah Umar, Dheeraj Govindrao Jagtap, Bhoopriya Bando alias Arslan Mustafa, Sarfaraz Ali Jafri, Mohd. Saleem, Kunal Ashok Chaudhari alias Atif and Rahul Bhola…
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