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UP Clears Order To Check Forced Conversions Amid "Love Jihad" Row
The ordinance comes hours after the Allahabad High Court cancelled a case against a Muslim man by the parents of his wife, who converted to Islam last year to marry him
All IndiaEdited by Chandrashekar SrinivasanUpdated: November 24, 2020 7:29 pm IST
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had invoked a Hindu funeral chant against "love jihad" (File)
Lucknow:
Amid furious nationwide debate over "love jihad" - the right-wing conspiracy theory that Muslim men enter into relationships with Hindu women to forcibly convert them - the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday evening passed an ordinance to check forced religious conversions.
The ordinance comes after the Allahabad High Court, in a significant verdict, cancelled a case against a Muslim man by the parents of his wife, who converted to Islam last year to marry him.
"Interference in a personal relationship would constitute a serious encroachment into the right to freedom of choice of the two individuals," the court observed.
"The Courts and the Constitutional Courts in particular are enjoined to uphold the life and liberty of an individual guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India," the court added.
"We do not see Priyanka Kharwar and Salamat Ansari as Hindu and Muslim, rather as two grown-up individuals who - out of their own free will and choice - are living together peacefully and happily over a year," a two-judge bench said.
The ordinance also comes less than a month after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath cited an Allahabad High Court order to invoke "Ram naam satya" - a Hindu funeral chant - to issue a thinly-veiled threat to "those who... play with our sisters' respect".
Shortly after the Chief Minister's comment the state government said a "strict law" would be passed; Law Minister Brijesh Pathak told news agency PTI there had been a "rise in such cases... (and) caused social disharmony and enmity."
"Love jihad" is a pejorative used by right-wing groups to target relationships between Muslim men and Hindu women, which, they say, is a ruse to forcibly convert the women.
Relationships between Hindu men and Muslim women are ignored.
It is a term not recognised by the centre. In February, the Union Home Ministry told parliament that "love jihad is not defined in law" and no such case had been reported by central agencies.
That, however, has not stopped a number of BJP-ruled states, including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, from insisting they will push through "anti-love jihad" legislation.
UP Clears Order To Check Forced Conversions Amid "Love Jihad" Row
Amid furious nationwide debate over "love jihad" - the right-wing conspiracy theory that Muslim men enter into relationships with Hindu women to forcibly convert them - the UP government has passed an ordinance to check forced religious conversions
www.ndtv.com
'Love jihad' ordinance cleared by UP cabinet
India
Times Now Digital
Updated Nov 24, 2020 | 19:38 IST
The ordinance proposes imprisonment between one-five years for those found guilty of carrying out religious conversions for marriage.
Yogi Adityanath (file photo) | Photo Credit: PTI
Lucknow: Days after approaching the Union Law Ministry for the proposed law against 'love jihad', the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet, on Tuesday, cleared the 'Love jihad' ordinance. The move comes shortly after the Allahabad High Court, upheld the right to freedom of choice of individuals and quashed its own order in which it had said that conversion for the sake of marriage was not acceptable.
While passing the ordinance, the UP government said that more than 100 cases were examined before bringing the ordinance. The law mandates imprisonment between one-five years for those convicted of carrying out forceful conversions for marriage.
"We saw that the religious conversions were part of 'love jihad' conspiracy. There is a big conspiracy behind these conversions which was unravelled by our security agencies," UP Minister Mohsin Raza said.
What the ordinance mandates:
Minimum 1-year till 5-year punishment or Rs 15,000 fine. (In normal cases)
Minimum 3-year punishment and maximum till 10 years and fine of Rs 25,000 (if the girl is a minor or from the SC/ ST community)
Minimum 3 to 10 years punishment and Rs 50,000 fine. (In case of Mass religious conversion)
Congress slams BJP, says 'love jihad' a manufactured word
Earlier, Madhya Pradesh has made clear that it will be bringing in a law to counter 'love jihad' during the next Assembly session. Congress and opposition parties have attacked the BJP alleging that the term is 'manufactured' by the ruling party to create unrest in the country.
Justifying his party's stand, BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, on Monday said- "We need to understand the definition of it (love jihad). The law is being made against the conspiracy behind the inter-religion marriages. Love is Sanatan and effortless; it does not see religion or a caste. But if someone loves and marries another person with a plan or intention to convert their religion, this law is from them."
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Slamming the BJP, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had, last week, claimed that 'love jihad' was a term manufactured by the BJP. "Marriage is a matter of personal liberty, bringing a law to curb it is completely unconstitutional & it will not stand in any court of law. Jihad has no place in love... They are creating an environment in the nation where consenting adults would be at the mercy of state power. Marriage is a personal decision & they are putting curbs on it, which is like snatching away personal liberty," Gehlot had said in a series of tweets.
'Love jihad' ordinance cleared by UP cabinet
The ordinance proposes imprisonment between one-five years for those found guilty of carrying out religious conversions for marriage.
