Bhopal: "I have no complaints with anyone. What has happened is in the past now." 

That is what Tasleem Ali, a slightly built, soft-spoken and illiterate 28-year-old itinerant bangle salesman, told Article 14, after a local court acquitted him of sexually assaulting a teenager and forging identity cards, 38 months after release from 105 days in prison.

Ali was acquitted by a court in the Madhya Pradesh city of Indore almost three years after he had been released on bail. 

The allegations made by Hindu extremists were prosecuted by the police with no evidence, an additional sessions court presided over by special judge Rashmi Baltar, held on 2 December 2024. 

"Since the prosecution failed to prove any charges levelled against Tasleem, the court acquits him of all charges," ruled Baltar, in the latest of many recent cases (here, here, here, here and here) where police in north Indian cities framed or proceeded without evidence against Muslims in cases dismissed by courts.

The main charges that Baltar referred to were that Ali sexually assaulted a minor, and forged identity documents, including Aadhaar cards and a voter ID.

The minor, who Ali was accused of sexually assaulting, testified in court that she had never seen him before.

Ali, from the Banjara Muslim community from Hardoi district, Uttar Pradesh (UP), about 834 km northeast of Indore, had his life drastically altered by the false accusation. 

The incident in Indore not only tarnished his reputation but also forced his family to abandon their centuries-old occupation of door-to-door bangle selling.

“This was my first brush with the law, the courts, and the media. Initially, it seemed hopeless,” said Ali. “But thanks to the prayers of my family and the unwavering support of my legal team, justice prevailed.”

In the last 38 months, Ali visited Indore every three to four months for court hearings. “My mother and wife are always concerned whenever I plan to go, sensing a threat,” he said. 

Although Ali is free, those who spoke out in his defense are now facing legal repercussions.

Cases Continue Against 28 Muslims

Hours after filing the first information report (FIR) against Ali’s attackers, police filed a FIR under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 147 (rioting), 294 (obscene act or song) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code against 28 Muslim activists and politicians who gathered at the Central Kotwali police station in Indore to support Ali. 

Within a week, as many as half a dozen of the activists, including Zaid Pathan, Mumtaz Qurashi, Amjad Pathan, and Congress leaders Ameenul Khan Suri and Irfan Shaikh, received externment notices—used to exile people from an area—from the Indore district administration, which labeled them as “threats to public peace” for allegedly “attempting to incite riots” in the city.

“I was served an externment notice within three days of the FIR,” said Zaid Pathan, a 40-year-old activist. 

Congress leader Suri, who was also named in the FIR and received an externment notice said, “I’m happy that Tasleem is free now. But those who stood for him are still struggling in the court case.”

Under the guise of the externment notice, according to some of the accused, they were subjected to harassment, having to repeatedly visit the district magistrate's office in an effort to contest the banishment order.

"We were harassed for over six months under the garb of hearings for the externment notice,” said Pathan. “They didn't intend to extern us because they have no grounds. It was done to teach a lesson to those who stood up for Tasleem Ali." 

All 28 named in the FIR continue to visit court on hearing dates, consuming their entire day. 

A Shattered Livelihood

The criminal case against Ali left deep economic and mental scars on his family. 

"There are many people from my village and even my extended family who still go door-to-door to sell bangles, but we don't," said Tasleem Ali’s younger brother, Irfan Ali.

The family has since transitioned to a safer means of doing business. They now rent shops or stalls in markets and fairs.

This has led to a drop in their profits as they now have to rent premises.

“We may earn less now and have to pay rent, but the ordeal taught us a valuable lesson,” said Irfan. “It's far better to earn with dignity than to face abuse for no reason.”

On 22 August 2021, Indore's Banganga Police booked Ali over allegations of inappropriately touching a minor's cheeks, claiming he said, “Tum kitni sundar ho (How pretty you are).”

They also accused him of using a fake voter identity card under the name of Bhura. 

Ali was charged under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the IPC, and section 7 and section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act 2012.

‘Soft Terrorism’ & ‘Love Jihad’

A day before Ali was sent to jail on 24 August 2021, Madhya Pradesh's then home minister Narottam Mishra defended the State's actions against Ali, claiming he was found with two Aadhaar cards and one voter identity card, and was selling bangles in a Hindu-dominated area while concealing his true identity.

The court, while acquitting Ali, said, “It could not be established Tasleem intentionally tried to mislead the minor's parents by showing any fraudulent identity card."

The police claim that Ali was in possession of forged documents led to widespread accusations (here, here and here) from a number of functionaries of the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), linking the incident to the conspiracy theory of 'love-jihad' and accused Ali of being connected to Inter Services Intelligence or ISI, Pakistan’s spy agency.

Among those who weighed in were the then medical education minister, Vishwas Sarang, BJP state president V D Sharma, and member of the legislative assembly Rameshwar Sharma. 

They questioned why Ali had been found with multiple identity cards—one showing the name Tasleem Ali, another in the name of Asleem Ali, and even a voter ID card in the name of a Hindu identity, Bhura, which they found suspicious. 

Sharma described the incident as a form of 'soft terrorism'.

A week later, Mishra claimed that one of the people supporting Ali “was found with videos and audios in his possession that were enough to create unrest in the state”. 

“He has connections with Pakistan through WhatsApp and Facebook,” said Mishra.

Following his release, Ali and his brothers, who used to sell bangles in Indore during the festive season, stopped visiting Indore. 

After being released on bail, Ali said he stayed home for the next two to three months because family was terrified. “My children cried for days,” he said. “They thought I wouldn’t return home.”

No Evidence 

A key turning point during Ali’s trial when the alleged victim and her parents testified in court.

“I don't recognise Tasleem and have never seen him,” the victim told the court. "I did not know about the incident that happened on August 22." 

The teenager said she was inside her house when an argument broke out on the streets, but she had no knowledge of the incident.

The police report claimed the girl had gone to the Banganga police station with her parents to register a complaint, but they denied that they ever did.

"After investigating, and cross questioning the witnesses, it has not been established that the accused held the minor's hand or used force with an intention to molest her,” the court ruled. “Nor is there any evidence that he threatened the minor.”

"I have never looked at any woman with ill intentions,” Ali said after he was acquitted. “I regard all women in Indore as my sisters or mothers. I hope the unity of the society, like the one in Indore, is maintained." 

Of his ordeal, Ali said, “I wasn’t harassed in jail, but it gave me ample time to reflect on the entire trajectory (of events) and realise how cruel the world can be to the illiterate. That's why I made a commitment to educate my daughters at any cost.”

FIR To Cover Up An FIR

Ali’s lawyer Shaikh Alim accused the police of filing the case to “hide the assault on Tasleem on religious grounds”.

Ali said he came to Indore in the first week of August 2021, as he did every year, with his brothers to sell bangles door to door ahead of diwali.

When he was walking down the narrow lanes of New Govind Nagar colony in Banganga, north Indore—a majority Hindu area—a group of men attacked Ali. 

“A man wearing a saffron kurta caught him from behind and asked him for an identity card. ‘If you are a Hindu, I will let you go, but if you are Muslim, I will beat you up’,” said Jamal Ali, another of Ali's brothers. 

According to Jamal, once the man who attacked Tasleem Ali learnt he was Muslim, he called other locals who accused him of “molesting Hindu women and promoting love-jihad”.

Ali said he was brutally beaten and his mobile, cash and bangles worth Rs 10,000 were looted.

Ali said he was able to survive the attack when a 24-year-old student, Bhavesh Kumar, intervened, as Ali was attacked in front of his home. 

“I couldn’t stop myself when I saw that a man was being attacked just because of his religious beliefs,” said Kumar, a martial arts student, trying to represent India at international events. “They said, ‘yeh Muslim hai, ise maro (he is Muslim, beat him).’ I did what I should. I’m glad he was acquitted.”

After he escaped, Ali rushed to the Banganga police station to file an FIR but police refused, according to Ali’s brothers. They said he went to the musafirkhana (a hotel) where they were staying.

By evening, when a video of the incident went viral on social media, local residents, including the 28 activists and politicians named in the FIR, took to the streets, picketing the Central Kotwali and Banganga police stations. 

Under pressure, police lodged an FIR the same night against four men—Rakesh Pawar, Vikas Malviya, Rajkumar Bhatnagar, Vivek Vyas—for beating and looting Ali and arrested them four days later.

They were booked under 14 sections of the IPC, including unlawful assembly, riot, promoting enmity between the two groups and section 66 of the Information Technology Act. 

“The police have filed the chargesheet and the accused are out on bail,” said Shaikh Alim, Ali’s advocate. “The trial is yet to begin.” 

On his experience in Indore, Ali said, “Kuch logo ne galat kiya, lekin kuch logo ne use thik karne ke liye madad bhi ke (Some people did wrong, but others helped make things right).”

Two days after winning the case, Ali returned home and continued his wandering life. The next morning, he left his family to set up a kiosk at a week-long winter fair in Hardoi city, almost 50 km from home. 

(Kashif Kakvi is a multimedia journalist who covers Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.)

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