Lucknow: A former employee of a school run by the director of the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology, and Sciences (SHUATS) in UP’s Prayagraj has accused senior members of the administration of sexually assaulting her and her minor children, a First Information Report lodged by the police this week reveals.
The woman has also alleged that she and her now-deceased husband were induced to convert to Christianity by the university’s vice-chancellor, Rajendra Bihari Lal. The complaint comes just over seven months after an FIR was lodged against the top brass of SHUATS under UP’s anti-conversion law.
After the latest complaint, filed Monday, Prayagraj police conducted raids at the premises of the university, which is a prominent Christian institution in the city, and several other locations Wednesday and Thursday.
According to the FIR, a copy of which has been obtained by ThePrint, the woman claimed that in 2011, she and her now late husband were approached by two pastors, who said that they had come from Yeshu Darbar. They then allegedly promised the couple a job in a minority school in Prayagraj, financial assistance for their children’s studies, and accommodation if the family converted to Christianity.
Yeshu Darbar is a trust run by SHUATS VC RB Lal. It has been under the radar of the Fatehpur police, who have been investigating its funding patterns in light of previous FIRs related to religious conversions in the district, as reported by ThePrint in January. The VC regularly conducted religious gatherings at the trust’s site in Prayagraj.
In the FIR, the woman claimed that after they converted to Christianity, she and her husband were given employment at the Christy Memorial School & College, which is affiliated to SHUATS. However, she said things took a turn for the worse later and she was allegedly pressured to provide sexual favours to school chairman Vinod B Lal, who is also SHUATS director (administration) and the brother of VC RB Lal.
She further alleged that school supervisor Rizwan molested her minor daughters. The woman also claimed that she was coerced to recruit more individuals for religious conversions.
Speaking to ThePrint, the 40-year-old woman, who was originally Muslim by faith, claimed she was threatened to ensure her compliance.
“Vinod B Lal would call me at his home and force me to spend nights there. At times, his wife and staff too would call me at his place. When I resisted, he started giving death threats,” she alleged.
The Prayagraj police have booked the Lal brothers along with another employee of the school, a pastor, and three others under IPC sections 354(b) (assault a woman with intent to disrobe), 452 (house trespass), 506 (criminal intimidation), sections 7 and 8 of the POCSO Act and sections 3, 5 (1) of the anti-conversion act.
“We are being told that the VC is ill and is admitted to a private Delhi hospital but we are verifying this. All accused are absconding but we have raided SHUATS and other possible hideouts of Vinod B Lal and Rizwan, etc,” Sanjeev Chaubey, station house officer of Ghoorpur, told ThePrint.
Speaking to ThePrint, Ramakant Dubey, the public relations officer (PRO) of SHUATS, claimed that the FIR had been filed by the police under “pressure” and that there was no evidence of sexual assault.
He also claimed that the current allegations against school chairman Vinod B Lal had nothing to do with SHUATS vice-chancellor RB Lal. Dubey alleged that the VC was being framed by local politicians who wanted to “defame” the Christian community.
ThePrint tried to reach Vinod B Lal via phone but neither calls nor messages went through on his number.
Also Read: Saga of Christian ‘conversions’ in UP’s Fatehpur continues. Fresh FIR lodged, old cases reopened
‘We thought they were good people, we’d get a job”
When two pastors arrived at their doorstep in Mirzapur’s Chunar in 2011, the family were hopeful about bettering their prospects, the complainant in the case told ThePrint.
“They said that we will get a job, accommodation, and our children’s studies will be taken care if we started believing in Yeshu (Jesus). My husband agreed, thinking that we will get a job and they were good people. They took us near the Yamuna and performed the batisma (baptism),” she said.
After the baptism, she added, the family began attending a church, associated with the Yeshu Darbar, in the Kachehri area of Chunar. Three years later, in 2014, the family was summoned to Prayagraj, where they were offered jobs at the Christy Memorial School & College, as promised.
RB Lal performed another baptism upon their arrival in Prayagraj and the family was provided accommodation within the school premises, the woman said.
“My husband was employed as a driver for Vinod B Lal, the school’s chairman, while I was asked to assist with day-to-day school activities, including domestic chores such as cooking. My daughters also began studying in the school,” she added.
However, the woman said her life took a harrowing turn in 2020 when her husband succumbed to mouth cancer. She alleged that following his death, she was subjected to immense pressure to engage in sexual acts with Vinod B Lal and to recruit more people for religious conversions.
‘Maar ke fenk diya jayega’
According to the complainant, Vinod B Lal and other members of the school administration threatened her life and the safety of her minor daughters when she tried to resist their demands.
“Vinod B Lal would force me to stay at his home in the night after my duty. My children would be threatened. He would say ‘maar ke fenk diya jayega aur school ke andar gaadh denge (You will be killed and buried inside the school, and no one will ever know,’” she claimed.
The woman further alleged that she endured mental, physical, and emotional harassment at the hands of the accused.
Furthermore, she claimed that the school supervisor, Rizwan, would enter her room at night and threaten her. According to the FIR, Rizwan allegedly told the woman that if she didn’t comply with Vinod B Lal’s demands, both she and her daughters would be “sold in the sex market in Kolkata, and no one would ever find out”.
In July of this year, the woman was abruptly removed from her position without prior notice, and her daughters were handed transfer certificates (TC) by the school’s principal, she said.
“The principal told me to leave the place and take my children with me. How will I bring them up now?” she lamented.
The family, however, stayed on at the school for some more weeks.
“On August 22, Rizwan entered my room along with three other unidentified men who stood outside. He was drunk and molested my minor daughters. I somehow saved them and raised an alarm but no one came to our aid. He threw my belongings out of the room and forced us outside the school,” the woman alleged.
She has now returned to Chunar with her daughters.
Meanwhile, SHUATS PRO Dubey told ThePrint: “Anything can happen under the government’s pressure. The lady got baptised in 2011 in Chunar and we have that certificate. If she was baptised in 2014, she should produce that certificate. No baptism happens without giving a certificate. Secondly, where is the proof of sexual harassment?”
Conversion controversy
On 20 January, an FIR was lodged against eight SHUATS officials, including VC RB Lal, Vinod B Lal, and two pro-VCs on the complaint of a former student, who alleged that he was offered various allurements to convert to Christianity, including “marriage to a beautiful girl”.
In this instance, the FIR was lodged under IPC section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and sections 3 and 5 (1) of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance 2020.
The brothers’ appeal to the Allahabad High Court for anticipatory bail was denied in a 28 February order. However, on 4 March, the Supreme Court stayed the Lal brothers’ arrest after they appealed the Allahabad High Court’s 28 February order denying them anticipatory bail. The court, while giving them interim protection, also sought the UP government and police’s response.
The apex court then extended the brothers’ protection from arrest on 14 July.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
Also Read: Fatehpur ‘conversion racket’ promised jobs, money & marriage to beautiful women, say UP Police