State Interior Minister Narottam Mishra said a draft has been prepared on the law against “love jihad‘or’ MP Freedom of Religion Bill-2020 ‘which will likely be approved in the state cabinet and presented during the winter session of the assembly scheduled to begin on December 28.
“We have prepared a draft to finalize the proposals and have decided to extend the rigorous imprisonment for up to ten years against those involved in forced religious conversion and marriage by decoy or fraud under the ‘Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantrya Vidheyak-2020’. Increase the punishment to ten years will not help the defendant to obtain bail from the police station. We have also proposed that such crimes be declared recognizable and non-bail offenses, “Mishra told TOI on Wednesday.
The BJP minister said that the draft will be discussed in the cabinet during the second week of December and presented in the state assembly to make a law in the winter session in order to stop such incidents as soon as possible. He said a meeting with senior Interior Department officials, including the chief secretary and the director general of police (DGP), proposed four to five stricter provisions to control crime in the name of religious conversions.
“Since the governor approved the convocation of the winter session of the assembly, the government has decided not to pass an ordinance, but rather to present the bill in the assembly to introduce a law. There are provisions in the new law in addition to Section 493 of the IPC that proposes actions against forced marriages, “said Mishra.
Sources said Prime Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will give final approval to the draft. Once the draft is prepared, the bill will be sent to the secretary committee of senior government members for final approval. “We will not allow ‘love jihad’ in the land of Madhya Pradesh,” Chouhan said in Umaria on Wednesday.
The BJP government had announced on November 17 the enactment of a law against love jihad with rigorous prison terms of up to five years. Several BJP leaders, including president pro tem Rameshwar Sharma, had urged the prime minister to make the law stricter and without bail.
“I am grateful to the prime minister for making a provision of punishment of up to ten years against those involved in ‘love jihad’. This is a serious crime and strict measures are needed to curb such activities,” Sharma said.
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