Home Department of the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday said that a strict law against ‘Love Jihad’ will soon be brought in the state and the department has sent a proposal to the Department of Law. This comes days after BJP-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh and Haryana announced they will enact laws against ‘love jihad’.
Crackdown on ‘Love Jihad’
Earlier this week, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij, after a meeting with senior officials, said that a committee will be set up to draft a “strict” law against ‘love jihad’. He also said that Haryana will study the laws made by other states in this regard. The Home Minister, according to the statement, said that “with the enactment of this law, strict action will be taken against any person who is found indulging in religious conversion by pressuring, tempting someone or is involved in any kind of conspiracy or tries to do so in the name of love”.
Earlier this month, Vij had told the Haryana Assembly that the state government is considering a law against ‘love jihad’ and has sought information from Himachal Pradesh, which had passed a bill on the issue. The Himachal Pradesh Assembly had last year passed a bill against conversion by force, inducement or through marriages solemnised for the “sole purpose” of adopting a new religion.
Similarly, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is planning to introduce Dharma Swatantrya (Religious Freedom) Bill 2020 in the next session of the state Assembly in view of the rising incidents of ‘love jihad’, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Tuesday. The bill proposes rigorous imprisonment for the period of five years for luring a person through fraud and forcing marriage by religious conversion, he told reporters and added that such offence will be non-bailable.
Source: Republic World
