Prayagarj, April 16 -- The Allahabad High Court has flagged several "false, fake, and frivolous FIRs" filed under the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, in Uttar Pradesh, and said there was a "troubling pattern of misuse" of the law by the police and complainants.

A division bench comprising Justice Abdul Moin and Justice Pramod Kumar Srivastava made the observations on April 13 while hearing a petition filed by a Muslim man who was charged in a first information report (FIR) that invoked the anti-conversion law.

The Bahraich Police registered the case against him following a complaint from the father of an 18-year-old woman. The woman's statement, however, was contradictory to the FIR charges. She stated that she...