January 6, 2021

LOVE JIHAD: A BAR TO INTERMARRIAGES.

Everything in world is catering and the Government i.e. the ruling party BJP has its own odd priorities. Is it really fair that law deciding any other matter relating to marriage of the two individual? The UttarPradesh government in the latest ordinance proposed “seeking unlawful conversion for the purpose of marriage is unacceptable”. 

The media have been reporting it as the matter of the “ love jihad”, but the Uttar Pradesh government have been repeatedly saying it as the matter of forceful and fraudulent conversion and not just the alleged phenomenon of “Love jihad’ and the UP Government claims that  the new law is for the check of the forceful conversion of Hindu women and there have been various punishments which has been mentioned in the latest ordinance which has been proposed by the UP Government.

 But somewhere down the line while Section 3 of the ordinance highlights ‘coercion’ into religious conversion as an offence, it is yet unclear as to how this would apply to a conversion that has not taken place and as to why the existing sections of the Indian Penal Code which deal with threatening a woman, pressuring her into marriage or threatening to kidnap her would not apply in such a case, according to several people it  the talk in the town that it prohibits the freedom of religions act.According to Bar and Bench,

“It states that the burden of proof as to whether a religious conversion was effected through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage, lies on the person who has caused the conversion and, where such conversion has been facilitated by any person, on such other person.”. And the very first case under this law has been filed by young man named Tikaram, a case was registered at the Devarniya police station in Bareilly district on November 28 against a muslim man “Owais Ahmad”.

And the police reported that he has been alleged of forcing the girl to convert through “allurement”. While with the talk to the news website the boy claimed that “he has no connection with the women”. Well how so ever after being produced before the local court, now he has been sent to the judicial custody for 14 days, and according to Section 12 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, crucially places the burden of proof on OwaisAhmad.

Well, coming on the major highlights of the latest ordinance, a lot of clashes of beliefs and ideas have come cross i.e. LOVE IS NOT THE CRIME, and there have been people saying “ they have right to choose their own life partner, irrespective of any religion”. So it is time for revisiting the latest judgement. The freedom of conscience means nothing if every act of religious conversion is going to be presumed illegal unless proven otherwise. The UP ordinance’s failure to prohibit forcible reconversion is also deeply disturbing .

Aishwarya Says:

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