News Analysis India

Tag: Love Jihad

  • UP Assembly passes controversial bill on religious conversion amid Opposition din

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW:  Amid protests by the Opposition, the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed by voice vote a bill to curb religious conversions carried out by fraudulent or any other undue means, including through marriage.

    The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2021 seeks to replace the ordinance promulgated in November last year that provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years and a maximum fine of Rs 50,000 for violators.

    The opposition Congress and BSP demanded that the bill be sent to a select committee.

    However, the bill was passed in the House as Aradhana Misra, the Congress Legislative Party leader and Lalji Verma, the leader of BSP in the Assembly, protested.

    The bill was introduced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna in the House.

    Opposing the legislation, Misra said that marriage is a personal matter of an individual.

    “This is an issue on which comprehensive discussion and debate are needed. Hence, instead of taking a decision in haste, it should be sent to the select committee,” she said.

    BSP leader Lalji Verma said that the Constitution guarantees the right to free profession, practice and propagation of religion.

    “This bill is against the Constitution. Hence, the government should either withdraw this bill or send it to the select committee,” he said.

    The Samajwadi Party members did not participate in the debate.

    Under the bill, a marriage will be declared “null and void” if the conversion is solely for that purpose, and those wishing to change their religion after marriage need to apply to the district magistrate.

    The bill mainly envisages that no person shall convert, either directly or indirectly from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage nor shall any person abet, convince or conspire such conversion.

    The onus to prove that the conversion has not been done forcibly will lie on the person accused of the act and the convert, it said.

    An aggrieved person, his/her parents, brother, sister, or any other person who is related to him/her by blood, marriage or adoption may lodge an FIR about such conversion, according to the bill.

    BJP leaders had said the legislation intends to counter alleged attempts to convert Hindu women to Islam in the guise of marriage, which right-wing Hindu activists refer to as ”love jihad”.

  • Gujarat to bring law against ‘love jihad’, says CM Vijay Rupani

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Sunday said his government will soon bring a strict law against ‘love jihad’ in the state.

    He made the announcement while addressing a poll rally in Vadodara ahead of themunicipal corporation elections.

    “We are going to bring a law against love jihad in the Assembly. Such activities being done in the name of love jihad will not be tolerated. The BJP government will bring strict laws against love jihad in the coming days,” he said.

    In the recent past, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, both ruled by the BJP, have brought religious freedom laws to stop conversion through marriage or by any other fraudulent means.

    Rupani said his government has also framed strict laws against ‘gunda’ (anti-social) elements and land grabbers with provisions of up to 10 and 14 years of imprisonment to protect the interests of the common man.

    ALSO READ | Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani faints on stage at poll rally in Vadodara

    “In the past Assembly sessions, our government had come up with stringent laws. We have made an Act against gundas. To ensure that such elements do not cause trouble to the common man and get strict punishment of 10 years, we brought the Act.

    “We also came up with the Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act so that people do not enter others’ land and take over others’ property using bogus documents. We brought this law with a provision of 14 years of punishment,” he said.

    The chief minister added that the BJP government at the Centre has fulfilled the promises made to the people regarding construction of Ram temple, scrapping of Article 370, and took revenge for Pulwama by launching an air strike.

    According to Rupani, Gujarat will witness a “golden age of development” when the BJP rules “from panchayat to the Parliament”.

    “This is the golden time for Gujarat because the Modi government at the Centre gives us whatever we ask for.

    The previous Congress-led Union government did not allow us to open the gates of the Narmada dam.

    But Modi gave permission within 17 days, which opened up the gates of development,” he said.

    “The BJP government in Delhi, Gujarat, in the cities and villages when the BJP rules from panchayat to Parliament, then there will be a golden age for the development of the state,” he said.

    He also promised metro trains in Vadodara and other cities of the state.

    The state government will work towards addressing the issue of recurring floods in Vishwamitri river that affects Vadodara city, he said.

    “We are going ahead with the mantra of development. Roads, gutter lines, streetlights are our responsibility. But to make cities modern, we are constructing overbridges. The biggest overbridge in the state is being constructed in Vadodara at a cost of Rs 250 crore,” he said.

    “We will also resolve the issue of drinking water and flooding in Vishwamitri river. We are going to start metro trains in all the cities. They have started in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Surat. Now, we will also start metro trains in Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar,” he said.

    Elections to six municipal corporations in Gujarat are scheduled on February 21.

  • No plans to enact nationwide anti-conversion law to curb interfaith marriages: Govt

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The central government does not intend bringing in any anti-conversion law for curbing inter-faith marriages, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. 

    When asked if the government believes that inter-faith marriages are happening due to forceful conversions, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kishan Reddy said forceful conversions are primarily a concern of the various state governments and Union Territories.

    “Public order and ‘Police’ are state subjects as per the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. Hence prevention, detection, registration, investigation and prosecution of offences related to conversions are primarily the concerns of the state governments/Union Territory administrations. Action is taken as per existing laws by the law enforcing agencies whenever instances of violation come to notice,” Reddy said in a written reply. 

    The question comes in the backdrop of the controversial anti-conversion laws introduced by the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

    Since the law was passed, there have been controversial arrests, mostly of Muslim men, who have been accused of trying to forcibly convert Hindu women for marriage. 

    The governments of Assam and Karnataka have also announced that they would soon bring in a similar law to curb inter-faith marriages.

    Notably, all the above-mentioned states are ruled by BJP. Last month, Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench had ruled that it should be optional rather than mandatory for an inter-faith couple to give a prior notice of 30 days to a marriage officer to register their wedding under the Special Marriage Act of 1954.

  • Bhopal man arrested under Madhya Pradesh’s new anti-conversion law

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh police have arrested a 25-year-old mechanic in Bhopal under a new law in the state that penalises religious conversions through fraudulent means, after a woman lodged a complaint against him, officials said on Thursday.

    In her complaint, the victim, a 23-year-old engineering student, accused the man of repeatedly raping her and bullying her besides threatening her to change her faith to marry him, they said.

    This is the second case registered in the state under the new law.

    Earlier this month, the state government promulgated the Freedom of Religion-2020 ordinance, which provides for 10 years in jail in some cases.

    “The accused, Asad Khan, was on Wednesday arrested and charged under seven IPC sections, including 376 (2) (n) (repeated rape), 354 (stalking), 294 (obscene act) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and attempts to change religion by allurement and threat under the MP Religious Freedom Ordinance 2020,” Ashoka Garden police station inspector Alok Shrivastava said.

    Police said that the woman hailed from MP’s Balaghat district and befriended the accused in 2019 while using a public transport system.

    He told her that he was a mechanical engineer.

    The accused told the woman that his name was Ashu and he was a Hindu, Shrivastava said.

    In December 2019, he took the woman to his place in Bhopal’s Ashoka Garden area and raped her there, he added.

    “On March 19, 2020, he took her to adjoining Raisen district on his birthday. He ventured out of the hotel, where they were staying, saying that he will return in five minutes after meeting a friend,” Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rajesh Bhadoria said.

    The woman, meanwhile, stepped out for a morning walk and found him coming out of a nearby mosque wearing a skull cap.

    On finding him there, she accused him of cheating, he said.

    Shrivastava said that after the incident, the woman parted ways with him and returned home in Balaghat during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

    In October, the accused started stalking her and when she objected, he thrashed her, he said.

    On January 11, he followed the woman and asked her to change her faith in order to marry him.

    Khan also threatened to kill her if she did not marry him, Shrivastava added.

    On Tuesday, the accused posted his picture with the woman on social media.

    The next day, the victim, along with her two acquaintances, came to the police station to lodge a complaint, he said.

    Meanwhile, BJP district working committee member Sanjay Mishra claimed that he went to the police station to get the FIR registered in this case.

    “The other party could not mount pressure on the police as we were there,” he said.

    Shrivastava, however, said, “No Sanjay Mishra came to the police station. The victim came there along with her woman friend and the friend’s brother.”

    On January 17, the first case under the new anti conversion law was registered in Barwani district on the complaint of a 22-year-old woman.

    The accused in that case was a married man who already has a child.

    The MP Dharma Swatantrya Adhyadesh (Religious Freedom Ordinance) 2020 came into force on January 9.

    It provides for a punishment of one to ten years in cases of conversion through forced or fraudulent marriage by hiding one’s original religious identity.

  • MP: Man held under anti-‘love jihad’ law for forcing girl to marry him, change faith 

    Express News Service
    BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Police on Wednesday filed the second case under the anti-‘love jihad’ law following the complaint by a 24-year-old engineering student in Bhopal on Wednesday.

    “The accused, a 30-year-old mechanic hailing from Aishbag area of Bhopal, has been arrested. He has been booked under IPC Sections 376 (rape), 354 (stalking), 294 (abuses), and 506 (criminal intimidation), besides 3/5 MP Religious Freedom Ordinance 2020,” additional SP (ASP-Bhopal Zone II) Rajesh Bhadoriya told The New Indian Express.

    The complainant, who lives in Bhopal but originally hails from the Balaghat district, developed friendship with the accused identified as Asad alias Ashu after she met him while travelling on public transport in November 2019.

    The accused posed as Ashu saying that he was a Hindu, and gradually became close to the girl. Both developed physical relations after which Ashu promised to marry the girl.

    ALSO READ | MP: Married Muslim man held in first case under anti-‘love jihad’ law

    “In March 2020, the girl accompanied the accused to the adjoining Raisen district where he went to a mosque. This made the girl suspicious about his religious identity. When she pressured the accused, he spilled the beans telling her that he was Asad and not Ashu. Following this, the girl snapped ties with him,” the ASP-Bhopal Zone II said.

    Since then the accused was stalking the girl and forcing her to marry him and change her religion. “On January 11, 2021, the girl, along with a female friend, was going somewhere in the Ashoka Garden area, when she was stopped by the accused. The accused verbally abused her and threatened her with dire consequences if she didn’t marry him and change her religion,” Bhadoriya said.

    The girl subsequently reported the matter at Ashoka Garden police station.

    This is the second case under the new anti-religious conversion law in MP within three days. On January 17, the first case under the new law was registered in the Barwani district on the complaint of a 22-year-old woman. The accused in the case is a 25-year-old truck driver and part-time DJ player. The accused is a married man who already has a child from the existing marriage.

    The MP Dharma Swatantreya Adhyadesh (Religious Freedom Ordinance) 2020 had come into force on January 9, 2021. The law entails a punishment of one to 10 years in cases of forced conversion through forced or fraudulent marriage by hiding one’s original religious identity.

  • Inter-faith love: Bombay High Court helps woman facing parents’ opposition

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said neither family nor court can restrict or curtail the freedom of a woman who is a major by age.

    A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale was hearing a habeas corpus (produce the person) petition filed by a man claiming his 23-year-old girlfriend had been detained by her parents after they learned of their relationship.

    As per the plea, the woman’s parents were opposed to the relationship as the petitioner was of a different religion Acting on an earlier court direction, police produced the woman and her parents in court on Tuesday, and the petitioner, a MBA student, told the court he wished to marry the woman but her parents were curtailing her freedom.

    The court then interacted with the woman who said she was in a relationship with the petitioner for five years and they intended to marry, and that she was a 23-year-old adult.

    The court, while disposing of the petition, said since the woman was a major, she is free to move as per own wish, and directed the police to escort her to the place she desires to go to from court.

  • UP govt moves SC seeking transfer of all pleas against ‘love jihad’ law to apex court

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: With a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the ‘love jihad’ law pending at the Allahabad High Court, the Yogi Adityanath government has moved to Supreme Court seeking transfer of all such pleas.

    The UP government made the move under Article 139 A of the Constitution on Tuesday. It may be recalled that Allahabad High Court had posted the matter for the next hearing on January 25.

    Article 139 A of the Constitution of India says Where cases involving the same or substantially the same questions of law are pending before the Supreme Court and one or two High Courts or before two or more HCs, the Supreme Court is satisfied on its own motion or an application made by the Attorney General of India or by a party to any such case that such questions are substantial questions of general importance, the Supreme Court may withdraw the case or cases pending before the HC or the HCs and dispose of all cases itself.

    Earlier, moving an application in the High Court, Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal had urged the Chief Justice of Allahabad HC Justice Govind Mathur to adjourn the matter sine die as the apex court had already taken cognizance of the issue and had issued a notice in the case to the state government.

    The AAG had contended that in such a situation, it would not be appropriate for the High Court to continue hearing on the petitions.

    But the High court refused to adjourn the proceedings over the batch of petitions. Consequently, the UP government decided to petition the Supreme Court in this context seeking transfer of the proceedings to it.

    The SC had issued a notice on January 6 to UP and Uttarakhand governments seeking their response to the petitions challenging their respective ordinances against the unlawful conversion of religions.

    The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice V Ramasubramanian, and Justice AS Bopanna had posted the matter to be listed after four weeks.

  • Two people seek to be made party in SC case against UP, Uttarakhand laws on conversion

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Two people moved the Supreme Court Tuesday seeking to be made a party in matters related to controversial new laws of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand regulating religious conversions due to inter-faith marriages.

    The apex court earlier this month issued notice to both the state governments on petitions filed by advocate Vishal Thakre and others as well as an NGO, ‘Citizen for Justice and Peace’, even though it refused to stay the controversial provisions of the laws.

    The petitioners had challenged the constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 and the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 which regulate religious conversions of inter-faith marriages.

    In the intervention petition filed on Tuesday, Bihar resident Wasim Ahmad and Ram Lakhan Chaurasiya from Uttar Pradesh said the “ordinance attempts to regulate a personal decision of each human being by encroaching upon an individual’s choice to convert to a religion of his/her choice”.

    “It is submitted that scrutiny by the state of such a personal decision is a grave assault on the personal liberty of an individual and is violative of Article 21 (of the Constitution),” the petition said.

    It said the Act and Ordinance seemed to be premised on conspiracy theories and assume that all conversions are illegally forced upon individuals who may have attained the age of majority.

    The petition sought the court’s permission to assist it in the matter.

    The counsel for the petitions filed earlier had on January 6 sought a stay on the provisions of the law and said that people were being “lifted” by authorities in the middle of wedding ceremonies.

    Some provisions of these laws are “oppressive and horrible” in nature and require prior consent of the government to marry which is “absolutely obnoxious”, the counsel had added.

    The bench had said that it was issuing notice and sought response from both the states within four weeks.

    The Uttar Pradesh Ordinance was cleared by the state Cabinet in November and ascent was given by Governor Anandiben Patel on November 28 last year.

    It relates not only to inter-faith marriages but all religious conversions and lays down elaborate procedures for those who wish to convert to another religion.

    The Uttarakhand Act entails a two-year jail term for those found guilty of religious conversion through force or “allurement”, which can be in cash or in-kind — employment or material benefit.

    The petitioners had said they were aggrieved by the ordinance which curtailed the fundamental rights of the citizens provided in the Constitution.

    Their pleas said the laws passed by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand against ‘Love Jihad’ and punishments thereof may be declared ultra vires and null and void because it disturbs the basic structure of the Constitution as laid down by the Law.

    They said the ordinance passed by Uttar Pradesh and the law passed by Uttarakhand was against the public policy and society at large.

    Besides seeking to declare the laws as null and void, the pleas have sought a direction to the two states to not to give effect to impugned provisions/ordinance and withdraw the same.

  • MP: Married Muslim man held in first case under anti-‘love jihad’ law

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: In the first case under the new anti-‘love jihad’ law in Madhya Pradesh, a 25-year-old married man was arrested for sexually exploiting a 22-year-old girl in the Barwani district. 

    The accused Sohail Mansoori alias Sunny is a truck driver and part time DJ player. He met the woman while playing DJ music four years back at a wedding function.

    “As per the woman’s complaint, the accused was sexually exploiting her for a long time. He told the woman that he was from her community. Later he started forcing her to marry him and convert to his faith, after which the woman complained about the matter to Barwani Kotwali police station on Sunday. Since the entire case pertains to Pulsood police station, the case has been transferred there for further investigation,” the inspector in-charge of Barwani Kotwali Rajesh Yadav said.

    A case was registered at Barwani Kotwali police station of Barwani district on Sunday under Section 376 (rape) 294, 323 (assault), 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC, and also under the provisions of MP Dharma Swatantreya Adhyadesh 2020. The case has been transferred for further investigations to Pulsood police station, Yadav added.

    According to Barwani district police, the accused, also the father of a child, was arrested on Monday evening and will be produced before the court on Tuesday. 

    ALSO READ | About 35 arrests, dozen FIRs as Uttar Pradesh ‘love jihad’ law completes one month

    The woman has also alleged that the accused who introduced hhimself as Sunny (belonging to her community) to her four years back, also physically assaulted her when she refused to marry her and convert to her community.

    This is the first case registered under the new MP Freedom of Religion 2020 Ordinance which came into force in the state on January 9. The law entails a punishment of one to 10 years in cases of forced conversion, which includes forced or fraudulent marriage by hiding one’s original religious identity.

    As per the gazette notification, the “Ordinance provides freedom of religion by prohibiting conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, allurement, use of threat or force, undue influence, coercion, marriage or any fraudulent means and for the matters connected therewith or incidentalthereto.”

    Under the new law, forced conversion of a minor, woman, or person from SC/ST would lead to a punishment ranging between two and ten years and a minimum penalty of Rs 50,000.

  • Anti-‘love jihad’ law comes into effect in MP

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: With the state government issuing a gazette notification on Saturday, the Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantreya Adhyadesh 2020 (MP Freedom of Religion Ordinance 2020) has come into effect in the state.

    The anti-‘love jihad’ ordinance came into force two weeks after the CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired cabinet approved it, and two days after Governor Anandiben Patel put her seal of approval.

    The law entails 10 years in cases of religious conversion through forced or fraudulent marriage by hiding one’s original religious identity.

    As per the gazette notification, “The ordinance provides freedom of religion by prohibiting conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, allurement, use of threat or force, undue influence, coercion, marriage or any fraudulent means and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”

    Under the new law, forced conversion of a minor, woman, or a person from SC/ST would lead to a punishment ranging between two and 10 years and a minimum penalty of Rs 50,000.

    Those found guilty of mass conversion will invite punishment ranging between five and 10 years and a minimum fine of Rs 1 Lakh.

    Under the new law, any marriage solemnised just with the intent of religious conversion will be considered null and void and the offence will be cognizable and non-bailable.

    However, the law also contains provision that those willing to convert to another religion on their own need to apply before the concerned district magistrate two months in advance.

    Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, who is in Bhopal for the shooting of flick ‘Dhaakad’ welcomed the new law.