BHOPAL: A 40-year-old man in Gwalior on Monday requested the local administration to allow him to embrace Islam, along with 25 members of his family, saying that he feared being implicated under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.
Ajay Sharma, a resident of Pooja Vihar Colony, sent the application to the district administration and police on Friday. When the administration called him and asked for a reason, he withdrew his application. Sources say, Sharma had filed a complaint against a family in the same locality but no action was taken.
He then sought permission from the Gwalior collector to convert to Islam, saying he had faced "acute harassment" at the hands of the neighbours against whom he had complained ". Sharma claims that they were extorting money from him and pressuring him to leave the locality.
"We are being threatened with false cases under SC/ST Act. We will accept Islam if justice is denied," he wrote to the administration.
