The Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh is aiming to proclaim an ordinance against religious conversions in the state soon. This is being done considering the expanding number of instances of ‘love jihad’ in the state where Muslim men have hidden their identity to attract Hindu girls, sources said.
The most extreme number of such cases have been reported from Kanpur and Meerut.
As per sources Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief, during his two-day visit to Lucknow this week, likewise raised the issue of religious conversion.
These anti-conversion laws in different states try to keep any individual from changing over or attempting to change over, either legitimately or something else, someone else through ‘forcible’ or ‘fraudulent’ means, or by ‘allurement’ or ‘inducement’.
“The law in Uttar Pradesh would be very similar in nature which would make religious conversions a complex and cumbersome system,” said authority in the state’s law department.
At present, eight states of India already have anti-conversion laws — Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand.
Odisha was the first state to institute this law in 1967,followed by Madhya Pradesh, in 1968.
“Uttar Pradesh could be the ninth state in this list,” said the law office official.
Currently 11 cases of love jihad are being probed in the city of Kanpur by the special investigation team.
A year ago, the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission had presented a report to Adityanath, proposing a new law to check the forcible religious changes.
Freedom of Religion Bill, 2019,” law commission secretary Sapna Tripathi had said.
The report was set up subsequent to experiencing pre and post-independence laws in the nation and neighbouring nations like Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan other than remembering court decisions.
“The commission is of the view that current legitimate provisions are insufficient to check strict changes and on this serious issue, another law is required like in some different states,” the report said.
“The report was submitted alongside a draft enactment, Uttar Pradesh
The 268-page report included news cut-outs with respect to forced religious conversions, international covenants on the right to religion, against transformation laws in neighbouring nations and India.