LUCK: Yogi Adityanath’s government in Uttar Pradesh is ready to implement an ordinance to verify forced religious conversion, even as several other BJP-governed states work on laws to verifylove jihad‘. “The draft of the ordinance is almost ready and the prime minister has given his approval,” a source told TOI. “It could be enacted soon,” he added.
The Allahabad High Court had recently observed that “conversion solely for the purpose of marriage is unacceptable.” Citing the HC order during a bypoll rally in Jaunpur earlier this month, Yogi said his government would not allow the forced conversion of “daughters and sisters” in the name of marriage.
“Those who engage in such nefarious activities will face the most severe punishment,” he said. Yogi was one of the first BJP CMs to speak out against ‘love jihad’.
The state law commission had first tabled a draft anti-forced conversion bill last year.
It had recommended a prison term of one to five years for the defendant and a prison term of two to seven years in case of forced conversion of SC / ST.
The commission also recommended that both the marriage and the conversion be declared null and void if either party is forced to change their religion for the purpose of marriage. Eight states (Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand) already have laws against conversion.
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