Yogi govt may bring ordinance against ‘love jihad’ to stop religious conversion

New Delhi: Taking note of large number of religious conversations linked to ‘love jihad’, the Uttar Pradesh government is mulling to bring an ordinance to stop forceful conversion of religion in the state.

The issue came on government agenda over multiple cases of ‘love jihad’ in last few days especially Kanpur. According to reports, there were at least 11 cases of ‘love jihad’ and subsequent religion conversion in Kanpur last month alone. Following this, Kanpur police had to form Special Investigative team to probe the alleged conversions on pretext of marriage.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked officials to formulate a strategy and bring an ordinance, if required to prevent religious conversions in the name of love, a top official privy to information said on Friday.

“It has been seen in the recent past that women have been made to convert in the name of love and marriage and later subjected to cruelty and even murder,” the official who did not wished to be named said.

“Taking a serious note of such incidents, the CM has directed that a concrete strategy be made to control such incidents, he added. “It has often been seen that this is being done in an organised manner,” he claimed.

“If required, an ordinance can be brought for it, he added. The aim is to ensure that such crimes are checked and effective action is taken against the culprits. All this is being taken into consideration,” he said.

Currently, eight states have anti-conversion laws which include Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Odisha was the first to enact the law in 1967, followed by Madhya Pradesh in 1968.