Government to study UP proposal to frame law against ‘love jihad’

Sushil Manav

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 2

The Haryana Government will deliberate plans to legislate a law against “love jihad” after discussions with the people, within the BJP cadre and with the JJP.

The state also plans to look into details of the law the Uttar Pradesh Government led by Yogi Adityanath proposes before determining the contours of the proposed law.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Home Minister Anil Vij had on Sunday announced that the BJP-JJP government was considering a law against “love jihad” on the lines of the one announced by Yogi Adityanath on Saturday.

The announcement came in the context of Nikita Tomar murder in Ballabgarh in public view outside her college. “Nikita’s family has alleged that it was a case of love jihad since Tausif wanted her to marry him after changing her religion. We need a stern law to address these issues so that such incidents do not occur in future,” Vij said.

He said deliberations at the party level and with the people had already started and a debate had begun on social media and other platforms on the proposed legislation.

Vij cited the judgment by the Allahabad High Court on October 31, wherein it said religious conversion just for the sake of marriage was not valid.

The court had made these comments after finding that a Muslim woman had converted to Hinduism and married as per Hindu rituals a month later.

The court had cited a 2014 order issued in the case of Noor Jahan Begum alias Anjali Mishra and another versus Uttar Pradesh, wherein the court held that conversion for marriage was not bonafide.

“Love jihad”, as the phrase is used in India, is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory, alleging that Muslim men target women belonging to non-Muslim communities for conversion to Islam by feigning love.

STERN LAW NEEDED

Nikita’s family alleged that it was a case of ‘love jihad’ since Tausif wanted her to marry him after changing her religion. We need a stern law to address these issues so that such incidents don’t occur in future. —Anil Vij, Home Minister

The campaign by Hindutva supporters to push the “love jihad” conspiracy theory is not new as it has been around for more than a decade.

The concept rose to national attention in India in 2009 with alleged conversions first in Kerala and subsequently in Karnataka.