UP MBBS Candidates candidates under scanner for allegedly converting religion to secure admission under minority quota
Meerut: With the ongoing MBBS admission process, a shocking development came to light in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, where more than a dozen medical aspirants were found to have undergone religious conversion to ensure MBBS admission to a minority medical college.
According to a recent media report by HT, around 20 MBBS candidates allegedly converted to Buddhism and obtained conversion certificates in violation of the provisions of the Unlawful Conversions of Religious Act, 2021 (UPPUCRA-2021) to secure admission under the minority quota. After investigating the matter, these certificates were cancelled by the authorities.
Confirming this, the Director of Minority Welfare, J Reebha on Friday told HT, "Minority certificates of all the candidates were declared null-and-void and have been cancelled."
These candidates belonged to Prayagraj, Varanasi, Bijnor, Meerut, Hapur, Muzaffarnagar (all in Uttar Pradesh), New Delhi and Maharashtra. After the matter came to light, the Uttar Pradesh Home Department, police in New Delhi and Maharashtra were informed about the development.
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The candidates belonged to Prayagraj, Varanasi, Bijnor, Meerut, Hapur, Muzaffarnagar (all in Uttar Pradesh), New Delhi and Maharashtra. Apart from the Uttar Pradesh home department, the police in New Delhi and Maharashtra were informed about the development.
As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, officials have informed that these candidates came under the scanner after they were allegedly found using religious conversion certificates to get an MBBS seat while violating the provisions laid down in the Act. Thereafter, the counselling board cancelled the admission of seven of these students and seven other students quit the course on their own. After finding out that the remaining six candidates were from outside Uttar Pradesh, their documents were sent to the respective States for verification before taking any action.
The Daily has reported that some of these students secured admission in the first round of NEET-UG 2024 counselling with ranks around 12 lakh (1.2 million). Normally, with such a low rank it would not have been possible for them to secure admission in the first round of counselling. HT has reported that until last year, this minority medical college used to admit a maximum of four candidates in the first round.
Commenting on the matter, the Director General of Medical Education and Training, Kinjal Singh, who got the documents verified from the respective districts within 48 hours, told the Daily, "Alarmed with the rise in the number of minority candidates, we took (up) the screening of documents. What came to knowledge was these candidates had attained minority status a few weeks before."
As per Section 8(1) of the UPPUCRA-2021 Act, "One who desires to convert his/her religion, shall give a declaration in the form prescribed in Schedule-l at least sixty days in advance, to the District Magistrate or the Additional District Magistrate, specially authorized by District Magistrate, that he wishes to convert his/her religion on his/her own and with his/her free consent and without any force, coercion, undue influence or allurement."
Regarding the person who performs the conversion ceremony to convert a person of one religion to another, the Act states that the person shall give one month's advance notice.
Referring to this, Kinjal Singh added, "Nothing of this sort was followed, which clearly indicated a violation of the Act. Hence, we initiated the process with the department of minority welfare, Uttar Pradesh, and the home department."
In the cases of minority colleges, around half of the seats go to minority candidates. Therefore, even if the rank is not high enough, the candidates having a minority status can secure MBBS admission.
Meanwhile, explaining the action against these instances of misusing minority certificates, the Joint Director of Minority Welfare and Waqf Department, Raghvendra Pratap Singh said, "Incorrect information or procedure followed to obtain a minority certificate stands for action. Process to fix accountability will be followed."
He further mentioned that the onus of submitting a fake or forged document is primarily on the candidate who has not followed the rules and also the officer who issued the certificate. In such cases, the officer will be held liable for the erroneous issue of the certificate. Meanwhile, the Directorate of Medical Education has now alerted its counselling committee to investigate the matter further and check the certificates being submitted in various categories.
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