Uttar Pradesh government's ordinance against love jihad: provision of 10 years imprisonment

Lucknow, Ta. Tuesday, November 24, 2020

The Uttar Pradesh government has approved an ordinance against the incidents of love jihad on illegal conversion for marriage. With this, Uttar Pradesh has become the third state after Madhya Pradesh and Haryana to enact a law to stop 'love jihad'.

The ordinance was approved at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow. Uttar Pradesh Minister Siddharth Nath Singh has said that forcible conversion is punishable by one to five years in jail and a fine of Rs 15,000.

There is a provision of three to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000 for illegal conversion of minors and women of SC-ST community.

The Uttar Pradesh Home Department had prepared the proposed draft against Love Jihad and sent it to the concerned department for testing. Of course, the word ‘love jihad’ is not mentioned in the draft that was prepared.

The ordinance is being called an anti-proselytizing bill. Adityanath Mittal, chairman of the UP Law Commission, also said that men and women of two different religions can get married, but the new ordinance is for illegal conversion.

Siddharth Nath Singh added that in case of large-scale illegal-forcible conversion, provision has been made for imprisonment of three to 10 years and a fine of Rs 50,000.

If a person wants to get married after converting to another religion, he has to get the approval of the district magistrate two months before the marriage. Notably, just a few days ago, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced the enactment of a strict law against love jihad.