Yogi Adityanath vows to put in place tough law against ‘love jihad’

U.P. CM issues death threat to those ‘concealing identity’ ahead of marriage.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addresses a public rally at Malhaani Constituency in the State’s Jaunpur district on October 31, 2020.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said his government would bring an “effective law” against “love jihad”, a slur politically used by the Hindu right-wing to target inter-faith relationships and marriages involving a Muslim man.

The Chief Minister also issued a “warning” to those who “played with the honour” of “sisters and daughters” by concealing their identities and operating secretly. If they did not mend their ways, then their “ Ram Naam Satya yatra (funeral processions)” would be taken out, said Mr. Adityanath.

Raising the contentious issue in his campaign for the Malhani bypoll in Jaunpur, Mr. Adityanath in a rally said, “The government is taking a decision that we will take tough measures to curb love jihad.”

Mr. Adityanath referred to a recent order by the Allahabad High Court in which it dismissed a writ petition by a married couple seeking police protection, noting that the girl, who was a Muslim by birth, had converted to the Hindu faith just a month before the marriage was solemnised.

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The

order was passed by the court on September 23 but became public last week. “The Court...found that the first petitioner has converted her religion on 29.6.2020 and just after one month, they have solemnised their marriage on 31.7.2020, which clearly reveals to this Court that the said conversion has taken place only for the purpose of marriage,” said Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi.

Dismissing the petition, the judge noted that in Noor Jahan Begum alias Anjali Mishra case of 2014, the court had observed that “conversion just for the purpose of marriage is unacceptable”.

The court said in the facts and circumstances it was not inclined to interfere in the matter under Article 226 of the Constitution.