Madhya Pradesh cabinet approves ordinance to deal with ‘love jihad’ cases

New Delhi: The Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday gave nod to an ordinance on the bill against religious conversion through fraudulent means. The new law will invite 2-10 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh for conversion through marriage or by any other fraudulent means.

The ordinance on the Freedom of Religion Bill, 2020, has now been sent to state Governor Anandiben Patel for approval,  MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra said.

“Provision for the imprisonment of five to 10 years and fine of at least Rs 100,000 is being made for attempting mass religious conversion (of two or more persons),” said Chouhan.

धर्म छुपाकर अथवा झूठा अभिनय करके अधिनियम के विरुद्ध धर्म परिवर्तन किए जाने पर कड़ी सज़ा का प्रावधान किया गया है। एक ही समय में 2 या 2 से अधिक लोगों का सामूहिक धर्म परिवर्तन किए जाने पर 5 वर्ष-10 वर्ष का कारावास और न्यूनतम 1 लाख रु. के अर्थदंड की सज़ा होगी: म.प्र. मुख्यमंत्री https://t.co/rel2UqTNS8 pic.twitter.com/rCcbmCZ4K9

— ANI_HindiNews (@AHindinews) December 29, 2020

The Madhya Pradesh government has proposed a maximum punishment of 10 years for so-called ‘love jihad’-related offences, in its new ordinance. With this, the state government has doubled the jail term in its proposed Freedom of Religion Bill 2020. It had earlier proposed a five-year jail term.

Under this new proposed ordinance, there will be a provision of punishment of up to 5 years for a religious leader who has performed religious conversion before submitting an application. The complaint of conversion and forced marriage can be made by the victim, parents, family or guardian.

The Madhya Pradesh Religious Freedom Bill, 2020 Bill was approved on Saturday and would have been tabled in the upcoming Assembly session but the session has now been cancelled. The Bharatiya Janata Party government took the ordinance route much like the Uttar Pradesh to enact the law to check forced religious conversion.