Updated: August 29, 2020 3:43:03 pm
Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. (Proceedings)
Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday ordered senior officials from the state Department of the Interior to prepare a plan to stop “love jihad” incidents, following several such cases reported in different parts of the state, according to senior officials.
Love jihad is a terminology used by Hindutva groups to describe inter-religious marriages, which they allege involves the conversion of the woman, either by force or by cunning, to marry a Muslim man.
According to officials, the address followed several reported incidents in Kanpur, Meerut and a recent one in Lakhimpur Kheri, where the police say there is evidence that the women were forced to convert and marry.
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“There are more and more cases of love jihad being reported in different parts of the state. Therefore, the Chief Minister instructed senior Interior Department officials to prepare a plan to stop such incidents, ”said Mrityunjay Kumar, Adityanath media adviser.
He said officials have been told to prepare a strategy and see if a new law is required.
Additional Chief Home Secretary Awaneesh Kumar Awasthi, who participated in the informal meeting, said: “This is a social problem. To stop it, we must take them seriously, we must act against the accused, and we must be tough. These days, social media is available everywhere and it also enters the minds of others “
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Awasthi said that while the modalities will be resolved, among the issues that are being analyzed is making possible a speedy hearing of such cases, since many of these matters are pending in the courts due to their coronavirus-induced closure. “The accused must not be allowed to obtain bail; then the woman’s family should receive monetary aid, etc. “, said.
When asked if a new law would be introduced, Awasthi said that from now on the existing law would be sufficient, but that it must be implemented correctly.
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Recently, following several cases of inter-religious marriages in the Juhi colony of Kanpur, the police had formed a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate allegations of conversion, either by force or by “brainwashing” women. , before marriage. The SIT was formed after the families of five Juhi Colony women met with senior police officials and sought help, alleging that the women had allegedly been brainwashed into converting before marrying.
The recent incident cited by police took place in a village in Lakhimpur Kheri district earlier this week, where a teenage girl was found raped and murdered. Later, the police caught a Dilshad, who, they say, confessed to raping the girl and then having her throat cut after a heated argument.
Call logs from the victim’s cell phone showed he was in contact with Dilshad, according to police.
Adityanath has ordered that the NSA be invoked, if necessary, in the Lakhimpur Kheri case.
In Meerut, a Shamshad was arrested in connection with the murder of a mother-daughter duo and then burying them at his home. As there was no other relative, a friend of the women filed the police report.
During the investigation, police said, it emerged that Shamshad had changed his name and was allegedly projecting himself as a Hindu before approaching the woman to marry.
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