tnnLucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has rejected the post-conviction bail pleas of eight convicts, including Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui and Mohammad Umar Gautam, in the illegal religious conversion case.However, the court granted bail to eight other convicts during the pendency of their criminal appeals. A division bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra passed the order after hearing bail applications filed in 16 criminal appeals.The court observed that the allegations against Umar Gautam, Kaleem Siddiqui and six other convicts were extremely serious in nature and found no justification for granting them bail at this stage. On the other hand, considering the relatively lesser role attributed to the remaining eight convicts and the nature of evidence against them, the bench granted them relief.Those granted bail include Mannu Yadav, Abdullah Umar, Dheeraj Govindrao Jagtap, Sarfaraz Ali Jafri and Rahul Bhola.The court directed the eight beneficiaries to deposit 50% of the fine imposed by the trial court within two months. Failure to comply with this condition would result in cancellation of their bail, requiring them to return to jail.The HC has directed that the criminal appeals be listed for hearing in the first week of Jan 2027.
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