Love Jihad Ordinance Cleared by UP Cabinet Against Forced Religious Conversions, Offenders to be Jailed

Lucknow, November 24: The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday passed an ordinance against "Love Jihad". According to reports, a person finds guilty under this law can be sentenced to one to 10 years of imprisonment. The executive order cleared by the UP cabinet will check forced religious conversions. Priyanka Kharwar And Salamat Ansari Are Not Hindu-Muslim For Us, The Two Are Grown-up Individuals, Says Allahabad High Court.

State Cabinet Minister Siddharth Nath Singh said, "The ordinance provides for jail term of 1-5 years with Rs 15,000 penalty for forceful religious conversion. For conversions of minors & women of SC/ST community, there will be jail term of 3-10 years with Rs 25,000 penalty."

The proposal to bring the law against "love jihad" was sent to the Department of Law by the Home Department. The state government's decision comes after the chief minister had said in a by-election meeting in Jaunpur in October that his government was planning a strict law against love jihad.

The ordinance was cleared by the UP cabinet on the day when the Allahabad High Court struck down its previous judgment in which it held that religious conversion "just for the purpose of marriage" was unacceptable. The court said that essentially it does not matter whether a conversion is valid or not. The right of two adults to live together cannot be encroached upon by the state or others. 'Love Jihad' Needs to Be First Defined Legally: Shiv Sena.

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh has also said the state would soon have a law against 'love jihad'. Meanwhile, another two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-rules states -  Haryana and Karnataka are also mulling over to bring such law.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 24, 2020 07:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).