High court grants protection to Pilibhit cleric linked to Lucknow doctor's abuse case

PILIBHIT: Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court (HC) granted interim relief to Pilibhit-based cleric Sayyed Zahid Hasan Rana, whose name surfaced during a high-profile investigation by Lucknow police and UP special task force (STF) involving doctors at King George’s Medical University.

The court ruled that "no coercive action should be taken against the petitioner following his challenge to a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued by a Lucknow magistrate late Jan".The case originated from an FIR filed on Dec 23 by a 28-year-old female doctor against her colleague. The complainant alleged that he repeatedly raped her under the false pretext of marriage, forced her to undergo an unauthorised abortion and pressured her to convert to his faith, all while concealing his existing marriage to a 30-year-old Agra-based woman last year.

The case roiled King George’s Medical University for days.Rana's name came up during a probe when UP Police discovered that he had solemned the accused doctor's marriage to the 30-year-old, and they obtained a NBW against the cleric from the court of chief judicial magistrate, Lucknow, on Jan 27. Rana then challenged this warrant in HC by filing a writ petition.Rana’s legal counsel, Shashank Singh, argued that the cleric was falsely implicated by UP Police and STF, and he was not named in the FIR.

Singh added that the accused’s father was known to Rana for nearly five decades and that the petitioner's only involvement was solemnising his marriage in the presence of her parents and brother, a legitimate act that should not link him to the accused's subsequent alleged crimes.Singh told TOI on Thursday that respondents were granted four weeks' time to file a counter affidavit, and the next hearing will be held after that.Passing an interim order on Feb 11, the divisional bench of Justice Abdul Moin and Justice Babita Rani observed the petitioner did not apply any treacherous or wrongful practice in solemnising the 'nikah' and it had no correlation with the FIR. The court's order was made available on Wednesday evening.Notably, an FIR was registered against the accused under BNS sections 69 (sexual intercourse by deceit, including false promise of marriage), 89 (causing miscarriage without a woman’s consent), 351 (1) (criminal intimidation), along with sections 3 and 5 (1) of UP Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2021. The accused is currently in jail.