Religious conversion via online games: Prime accused arrested in Thane; MoS reacts

UP Police recently busted a religion conversion racket in Ghaziabad where the accused allegedly targeted teens on gaming apps to convert them to Islam. On June 11, the prime accused Shanawaz Khan alias Baddo was arrested in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. Khan and a clerk at a mosque were accused of convincing a 12th-standard boy to convert to Islam. The accused came in contact with the boy over the platform ‘Discord’.

Khan and his companion were booked under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act based on the complaint filed by the father of the victim at Kavinagar police station in Ghaziabad.

#PoliceCommissionerateGhaziabad

कमिश्नरेट गाजियाबाद पुलिस टीम द्वारा नाबालिग बच्चे काे बहला फुसलाकर धर्मांन्तरण कराने वाला अभियुक्त गिरफ्तार ।
बाइट-डीसीपी नगर जोन@Uppolice https://t.co/51y2W6J8PR pic.twitter.com/EJRHu7R3qZ

— POLICE COMMISSIONERATE GHAZIABAD (@ghaziabadpolice) June 4, 2023

As per a report by India Today, the accused met the boy on a gaming app called ‘Fortnite’ in 2021. They got in touch again via the online platform called ‘Discord’ and later moved to talk over the phone. They stopped playing online games briefly but then resumed their gaming sessions on the game called ‘Valorant’. This is when they both started talking about religious conversion and Islamic orator Zakir Naik.

As per a report by IANS, DCP Nipun Agrawal revealed that the Ghaziabad Police had also received information about the conversion of 400 people from Mumbra through a gaming app. The police have also received photos and videos via the informer.

Thane city DCP (zone I) Ganesh Gawde said Shahnawaz Khan is an accused in a case of religious conversion of a boy registered at Kavinagar police station in Ghaziabad. He stated, “When a team from the UP Police came to the city, they took help from the local Mumbra police to arrest Khan. However, when the police teams reached his residence, it was found locked. The police teams then tracked the mobiles of Khan and his relatives.

It was revealed that the Police first questioned his relatives and traced his call records which led them to Worli, Mumbai. Later, the 23-year-old Khan was held at a lodge in Alibaug. The co-accused of Khan, Abdul Rehman, a clerk at a mosque in Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad, was held by the UP Police on May 30.

Prior to the arrest of Khan, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Chairman, Priyank Kanoongo wrote a letter to MeitY demanding an “effective framework to bar minors from accessing prohibited website”. He wrote, “The need to incorporate an effective framework to bar minors from accessing prohibited websites along with punishments is of utmost importance for the Commission…It is further to be enquired about the availability of such alleged online gaming platform over Android and iOS interfaces or on any browser…the Commission in best interest of the children deems it appropriate to ensure that best efforts are made to monitor the framework of such online gaming applications with respect to the restriction of the minor children to these platforms.”

Union Minster Rajeev Chandrasekhar has recently announced that the ministry has prepared a framework for online gaming that will ban three types of games in India: games involving betting or can be harmful to the user and that involve a factor of addiction.

#WATCH | For the first time we have prepared a framework regarding online gaming, in that we will not allow 3 types of games in the country. Games that involve betting or can be harmful to the user and that involves a factor of addiction will be banned in the country: Union… pic.twitter.com/XUdeHQM2ho

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— ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2023

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