Madhya Pradesh govt to bring law against 'love jihad', 5-year jail
Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday became the fifth BJP-ruled state in the last one month to promise a strict law against “love jihad”, which has loosely been termed as cases of Muslim men 'inducing' Hindu girls for marriage and conversion of their religion.
Other (proposed) provisions include making it mandatory for kin of the person being forced to convert to other faith for the purpose of marriage to file a complaint.
New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday became the fifth BJP-ruled state in the last one month to promise a strict law against “love jihad”, which has loosely been termed as cases of Muslim men 'inducing' Hindu girls for marriage and conversion of their religion. State home minister Narottam Mishra said a Bill would be introduced in the next assembly session, proposing a 5-year jail term for those who induce, defraud or threaten someone into marriage and then to convert the religion. The offence will be non-bailable, he said.
Anyone colluding or providing help for the offence, or getting an illegal religious conversion done, will also be punished, Mishra said. The complaint in such cases must be filed by the “victims” or their families. Any person wishing to voluntary convert his or her religion must give a month’s notice to the district magistrate before doing so.
This move falls in line with the BJP’s broad policy to criminalise cases of forced conversions of Hindu girls for marriage. In Karnataka, chief minister BS Yediyurappa has promised a law, with the state BJP saying that it would not be against inter-faith marriages but to save Hindu women from being converted to Islam under pressure. In Assam, minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has made this a poll issue, saying the BJP would bring in a law to fight this “menace propagated” by the party of Badruddin Ajmal. In Haryana, the murder of a girl in Faridabad last month prompted CM Manohar Lal to promise a law on similar lines.
This is also expected to become a major issue in Uttar Pradesh where elections are due in 2022, with CM Yogi Adityanath tasking his officials to prepare a strong law against love jihad in time for the next assembly session. The CM had set up a special investigation team three months ago to probe over a dozen alleged cases of love jihad in Kanpur. The SIT has yet to submit its report. The UP government has based its step on a September 29 Allahabad High Court judgement which cited an earlier HC order to say religious conversion only for the sake of marriage without any knowledge of or faith in the religion the person is adopting was not acceptable or valid.
