The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to a Muslim cleric charged with converting a boy with a mental illness to Islam, observing that the offence of illegal conversion is not as serious as crimes like murder, dacoity or rape.

Syed Shad Kazmi, a cleric at a madrasa in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, has been in custody for eleven months. He was booked for having coerced the boy, who had been abandoned by his parents, to convert to Islam. The cleric denied the allegation and said that on the contrary, he gave the boy shelter at his home on humanitarian grounds.

A case was filed against Kazmi under sections of the Indian Penal Code about intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation, and under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act.

A Supreme Court bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan on Monday overturned an Allahabad High Court order, saying that there was no good reason for it to deny bail.

“We can understand that the trial court declined bail as trial courts seldom muster the courage of granting bail, be it any offence,” the court said. “However, at least, it was expected of the High Court to muster the courage and exercise its discretion judiciously.”

The Supreme Court also said that every year, conferences are held to help trial judges understand “how to exercise their discretion” in bail petitions. It further remarked that Kazmi’s bail petition should not have reached the Supreme Court at all.

“The trial court itself should have been courageous enough to exercise its discretion and release the petitioner on bail,” the Supreme Court said.

The bench said it could not understand “what harm would have befallen on the prosecution” if the cleric were to be released on bail, subject to appropriate conditions.

The Supreme Court granted Kazmi bail, and directed the trial court to decide on the conditions for it.