Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday issued a warning against ‘love jihad’ and said the government is working to bring a strict law to curb incidents of ‘love jihad’. Referring to the order of the Allahabad high court which said religious conversion is not necessary for marriage, the Chief Minister said, “I warn those who conceal identity and play with the respect of our sisters. If you don’t mend your ways, your ‘Ram naam satya’ journey will begin.”
‘Love jihad’ is a term coined by a few Hindu groups to describe what they believe a conspiracy of Muslim men to force or trick Hindu women to convert and marry.
The Allahabad High Court has recently dismissed a writ petition filed by a married couple who sought police protection. In this case, the woman was a Muslim and converted to Hinduism just before the marriage. The court said that religious conversion just for the purpose of marriage is not acceptable.
Taking a leaf out of the verdict, Adityanath on Saturday said the government is taking concerted efforts to legally stop such cases of forceful conversions. The Uttar Pradesh government has been mulling an ordinance against ‘love jihad’ for a long time, reports said.
“Taking a serious note of such incidents [of forceful conversion and cruelty], the CM has directed that a concrete strategy be made to control such incidents. It has often been seen that this is being done in an organised manner. If required, an ordinance can be brought for it,” an official earlier told PTI
Last year, the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission submitted a report to Adityanath, suggesting “a new law to check forcible religious conversions.” Kanpur Police had also set up a special investigation team to look into ‘love jihad’ cases.
