Allahabad HC orders U.P. police to produce man detained by father after marriage with Muslim woman

The Allahabad High Court has directed Uttar Pradesh police to produce a man before the court in connection with a petition alleging that his father illegally detained him after he converted to Islam and married a Muslim woman.

Following Ayush Malik’s conversion from Hinduism to Islam, police in the State’s Shamli district registered a case under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 against Chandni Qureshi, the woman he married, and her father. The two were subsequently arrested in connection with the case and spent months in jail.

Justice Sandeep Jain passed the order on Wednesday (September 9, 2026) while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Mohammad Sultan, who claimed to be a friend of Mr. Malik. The petitioner alleged that his friend had voluntarily renounced Hinduism and embraced Islam without coercion, undue influence or inducement and subsequently married Chandni Qureshi.