UP Government has cleared the ordinance against love jihad or what it terms as unlawful conversions. It provides for a jail term of 1-5 years with Rs 15,000 penalty for forceful religious conversion. After Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, UP is the third such state which announced the enactment of a legislation to check “love jihad”.
The Uttar Pradesh Unlawful Religious Conversion Prohibition Ordinance (2020) says religious conversions that use falsehood, force or an incentive, or take place solely for the purpose of marriage will be declared a crime.
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Non-BJP states condemned this ordinance as interference of personal choices and liberty and noted that such a move could create a communal divide in the country. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted, “Love jihad is a word manufactured by BJP to divide the nation and disturb communal harmony.” he said. “Marriage is a matter of personal liberty (and) bringing a law to curb it is completely unconstitutional & it will not stand in any court of law…”
As per an NDTV report, those who plan to convert after marriage, the government said, will have to inform the District Magistrate of their intention at least two months in advance.
This ordinance is cleared on a day a significant case was cancelled by the Allahabad High Court in an interfaith marriage case. The Court cancelled a case filed against a Muslim man by the parents of his Hindu 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. This verdict assumed significance given it came in the middle of a controversial and divided discourse over "love jihad" across India. "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," said the court.
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