By Omar Rashid
This is the eighth article in a series of reports on false cases filed under the anti-conversion laws brought in by BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
New Delhi: On most days, Jittu Sonkar lives a mundane life, selling fruits at a market in Azamgarh in eastern Uttar Pradesh to make a living. But he lives another life – as a dedicated and highly-motivated soldier of Hindutva.
Over the last few years, Sonkar has had more than just willing customers in his crosshairs. Specifically, Christians or Hindus who express faith in or preach about Jesus Christ and the Bible. In his crusade against the Christian faith, Sonkar has weaponised the anti-conversion law introduced by the Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government. Ever since its inception in 2020, the law has been used to target religious minorities, especially Muslims and Christians, and suppress their religious practices as well as interpersonal relationships.
What’s notable about Sonkar is that since 2021, he has filed three identical criminal complaints under the unlawful conversion law. He has accused people of forcibly trying to convert him from Hinduism to Christianity or offering him money as an allurement to convert. Sonkar belongs to the Khatik community, a Dalit sub-caste traditionally associated with slaughtering animals for food and selling fruits and vegetables in urban areas.
Sonkar’s vigilantism is a classic example of how Hindutva elements have manipulated and enforced the anti-conversion law to file frivolous cases targeting peaceful religious gatherings or private events. “Wherever there will be any danger to the Hindu samaj (society), I will raise my voice,” Sonkar told The Wire, exhibiting pride over his activism.
Ever since the law came into force in November 2020, it has become routine for right-wing activists linked to the ruling saffron ideology, including members of the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party, to lodge FIRs against Muslims as well as lower caste Hindus perceived to be practising Christian traditions or deviating from traditional Hinduism. The Wire, which has gone through hundreds of such cases, found that most of them were built on general allegations, flimsy evidence and conjecture, as part of a concerted strategy to harass individuals and groups from the minority and marginalised communities. But so far, the focus has mostly been on the victims of such cases – those accused of unlawful conversion. Through Sonkar’s story, we provide you a perspective from the other end of the spectrum – the vigilante complainants.
Three FIRs that read like one
At least three FIRs have been lodged in two different police stations in Azamgarh – Kotwali and Kandhrapur – under the anti-conversion law solely based on Sonkar’s complaints. These were registered in 2021, 2022 and 2024. In each of these cases, Sonkar is the alleged victim, claiming he was threatened and given allurements to leave the Hindu faith.
The first complaint lodged by Sonkar was in August 2021, nine months after the Adityanath government implemented the stringent law which criminalises religious conversion if found to be effected for marriage or through representation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or other allegedly fraudulent means. Sonkar lodged an FIR against a 60-year-old retired Dalit construction labourer Shankar (whose name we have changed to protect his anonymity). Shankar was charged with converting poor Hindus in a locality in Azamgarh to Christianity by offering them money and promising to free them from the grip of ‘evil spirits’. Sonkar also accused Shankar of hurting his religious sentiments by insulting Hindu goddesses and deities.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.