THANE – A woman and another person have been arrested over the allegation of forced religious conversion in the Ulhasnagar area of Thane district, Maharashtra, following a complaint by the woman’s mother.

The Vithalwadi police station official said an Ulhasnagar resident lodged a complaint last week alleging her daughter was forcibly converted to Islam.

“As per the complaint, the woman, under the influence of a family nearby and after watching videos of a controversial Islamic preacher, renounced Hinduism. The conversion took place when the complainant was in London in June 2022. She has also claimed her daughter went missing later,” the official said, quoted by news agency PTI.

The complainant claimed her daughter went missing and later found a letter from the Ulhasnagar and Ambernath Masjid Trust confirming the conversion. 

“The woman has also said post the conversion, her daughter withdrew funds from her father’s account. She has told us her daughter has been brainwashed and may be coerced into taking part in illegal activities,” the official said.

A case was registered on Thursday on the woman’s complaint under Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity between different groups (153-A), injuring or defiling places of worship (295, 295-A), making offensive statements (298), causing harm with dangerous weapons (324) apart from cheating, forgery, criminal intimidation and other offences.