Shamli: The road outside Bharat Medical Store in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district is teeming with the usual chaos and conversation. Some wait for their turn, while others break the queue, impatiently flashing prescription slips at an overstimulated chemist. And, almost everyone who visits the medical store confirms the news that broke out in early June. The store is operated by the Malik family, who also own two other medical shops on the same road. The one under their family home has been shut for over a week now and the one at the end of the road continues to welcome customers. Pointing at the now eerie-looking Malik house, onlookers eagerly whisper among themselves and discuss Ayush Malik.Accusations and arrestsIn early June, Ayush Malik, a 27-year-old man living in Shamli, was faced with a barrage of cameras, slurs and accusations after Swami Yashveer Maharaj, the head of the Sadhana Ashram in Baghra, Shamli, claimed that he was forced to convert to Islam as authorities stood by. Maharaj alleged that Ayush was brainwashed by his wife, Chandni Qureshi and her father, Islam Qureshi. He threatened to call a Hindu mahapanchayat in the Qureshi locality on June 12, if action was not taken. On June 6, Ayush’s father, Devraj Malik, filed a first information report (FIR) at Shamli Kotwali police station, under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2021, and multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Devraj alleged that his son was lured into a romantic relationship by a Muslim woman and subsequently pressured into converting to Islam. Shamli Police have arrested nine individuals in connection with Ayush Malik conversion case, Photo: Tarushi Aswani.The FIR, seen by The Wire, names nine members of the woman’s family, accusing them of orchestrating the conversion, preparing a purportedly fraudulent nikah-nama (Islamic marriage contract), exerting psychological pressure, issuing threats and attempting to gain control over the family’s property. The report adds that the accused sought to pressure other members of Ayush’s family to embrace Islam. After the case was registered, the police booked nine people in connection with alleged religious conversion.Islam and identityUpon the arrest of his wife and father-in-law, Ayush, instead of running away or keeping quiet, decided to confront the move. As he stroked his one-fist-long beard, Ayush’s face was flooded with flashing lights. Across interviews with several mainstream television channels, he maintained a calm, composed and confident posture. Several anchors ridiculed him for converting to Islam, yet he remained unfazed. “I have studied Islam, been following and practicing [the religion] for several years now, out of my free will,” Ayush replied.In Shamli, The Wire met with Devraj Malik. In a barely audible voice, he made his stand clear: Ayush was lured into conversion to facilitate his marriage with Chandni Qureshi.“He had been in touch with the girl since 2019 or 2020. But, it was only in February this year that we got to know about their marriage,” he said, eyes overflowing with tears, “I just want my son back. We aren’t fighting for property claim, just our son.” Devraj, 66, has been feeling unwell since his family began being hounded by media persons shoving mics in their faces. He says he is worried about Ayush’s future. “Woh sarvagunn sampann tha, pata nahi uske dimaag mein kya baat aai (He was full of virtues, I don’t know what came into his mind),” he said, “When I saw the way he spoke in those videos, I felt as if some power or person had taught him those statements. So many Muslim people were uploading his interview clips as their WhatsApp status.”Ayush Malik’s case is hardly the first time a religious conversion has triggered public controversy in India. Yet, divergent public reactions reveal a deeper debate about who gets to exercise religious freedom and under what circumstances.In 2021, when former UP Shia Central Waqf Board chairman Wasim Rizvi renounced Islam and embraced Hinduism, taking the name Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi, the conversion was celebrated with garlands, ceremonies and a fawning media. His decision was framed as an exercise of personal choice and spiritual awakening. In the same state, people have been imprisoned for ‘forcing’ Ayush, even as he admitted to voluntarily embracing Islam. In a sharp departure from earlier stances, his decision to convert has been viewed as a subject for criminal investigation. The contrast also calls to mind, Akhila Ashokan’s case, who converted to Islam, took the name Hadiya and married a Muslim man in Kerala. Despite repeatedly asserting that her conversion was voluntary, police inquiry, court proceedings and national debate ensued over the so-called “love jihad,” before the Supreme Court affirmed her autonomy and restored her marriage. The pervasive scrutiny faced by converts to Islam is unfolding alongside a rapid expansion of anti-conversion laws in India. Over the past decade, several Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states, including UP, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Assam, have either enacted new anti-conversion legislation or strengthened the existing laws.Faith, fear and futureDays after Ayush’s wife’s and father-in-law’s arrest, Maharaj made another comment on the case. He claimed that Ayush would soon “return to sanatan dharma, along with 100 other Muslim people from Shamli and Kairana.” Maharaj, hailing from Muzaffarnagar, has a history of drawing the public eye for his explicit propagation of Hinduism. In 2025, as the leader of Chhatrapati Shivaji Sena, he reportedly carried out an ‘identification campaign‘ of shops and dhabas along the Kanwar Yatra route to “ascertain the owner’s religious identity” and ensure that devotees were served only by Hindu-run establishments. In 2014, he had publicly warned the Muslim community of dire consequences, advising them to reminisce the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.When The Wire spoke with a few Hindu people from Shamli, they echoed this sentiment of ‘ghar wapsi (return to home),’ proclaiming how Ayush must re-embrace Hinduism as only that could undo the tense situation in the district. The lane where Chandi Qureshi’s house is located in Shamli has turned silent since the issue flared up, Photo: Tarushi Aswani.However, for the Muslim community in Shamli, life is tedious even without any connection with Ayush. Several people refused to share their thoughts, even when guaranteed anonymity. One local Muslim shopkeeper, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, “Our Hindu customers have silently stopped coming. There was no call for boycott, but this is Shamli, we have past wounds too. We understand when behaviours change. We are just keeping quiet as we do not want riots or violence again.”Police in Shamli believes the whole situation has disturbed the district’s internal peace. Speaking to The Wire, Superintendent of Police, N. P. Singh said that they were simply tending to a worried father’s complaint. Claiming that they did not care who followed which religion, Singh said the matter should be seen as a family issue, instead of being sensationalised. Locals are closely keeping an eye on the news – some hoping for Ayush to ‘return’ to Hinduism, while others merely wishing for normalcy. People continue to talk in hushed tones, not about Ayush, but about his wife Chandni, who is probably one of the first women to be accused of “love-jihad,” an allegation Muslim men battle on a daily basis.