Owaisi alleges Yogi govt 'persecuting Muslim men' by Love Jihad law after 91 cases booked

Lashing out at Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday, alleged that the new Love Jihad ordinance was aimed at 'persecuting Muslim men'. Reacting to a report stating that 78 of the 91 booked under the new law were Muslims, Owaisi said that the laws serve no public interest but allow criminal mobs to now interfere even more in the private lives of citizens. Allahabad High Court is currently hearing pleas challenging the law. As of now Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh governments have passed laws against 'Love Jihad', while Haryana, Karnataka, Gujarat and Assam too are planning to pass such laws. 

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Owaisi: 'Persecutes Muslim men'

Allahabad HC makes publication of 30-day notice under Special Marriage Act optional

Allahabad HC's order on interfaith marriages

On 12 January, the Allahabad High Court ruled that the publication of notice and inviting objections under the Special Marriage Act is not mandatory. Justice Vivek Chaudhary's order came on a plea where a Muslim woman who had converted to Hinduism and married a Hindu man was kept under detention by her father. Though the woman was reunited with her husband after the HC's intervention, the court expanded the scope of the matter. 

Justice Chaudhary, in the judgment, observed that the procedure of publishing the notice and inviting objections for the intended marriage should not violate fundamental rights. While holding that parties to the intended marriage have the choice of telling the Marriage Office to not publish the notice, the court has empowered the Marriage Officer to verify details of the parties such as age, valid consent, etc. Petitioners in this case also noted that the challenge for interfaith couples might increase owing to the promulgation of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020. 

UP's 'Love Jihad' law explained: What is it and how is different from other states' laws

UP's law against 'Love Jihad'

While the law does not mention 'love Jihad' or defines the term, it makes forceful religious conversion, including through marriage, punishable with a jail term of 1-5 years with Rs 15,000 penalty. Moreover, if the woman is a minor or belongs to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, the jail term will be between 3-10 years and the penalty upto Rs 25,000. The law also punishes mass conversions with jail term is of 3-10 years and fine of Rs. 50,000 on the organisations conducting it. Currently, anti-conversion laws are in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand.

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