Overview
- Police in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir have registered cases and opened a coordinated investigation into the alleged forced conversion of Vishal Kumar in Kupwara.
- Bijnor police booked local resident Wasim under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, a law that penalizes conversions secured through threats or inducement.
- The family says a viral video and phone calls showed their son had adopted Islam and taken the name Hamza, and they have asked police to bring him back home.
- A police team has traveled to Kashmir to record the youth’s statement and to verify his age, which different reports list as 17 or 18.
- J&K Police said they are testing claims of coercion and urged people not to share unverified clips, a caution reinforced by earlier viral conversion disputes in the region.