Inter-caste 'lovers' under Uttar Pradesh police's scanner

In a bid to avoid any trouble caused by their affairs during the forthcoming panchayat elections in the state, the Uttar Pradesh police would be keeping an 'eye' on the 'lovers' who hailed from different castes or communities.

An official communique to the sleuths of the local intelligence units (LIU) has asked them to ''gather information'' about the ''love affairs'' between couples from different castes or communities as they may turn into law and order problems, especially during the panchayat polls.

The communique has used the term ''illicit love affairs'' to explain the relationship between couples hailing from different communities and castes.

''It is specifically about inter-caste and inter-faith love affairs....such affairs often create problems and result in violence,'' said a senior police official here.

The intelligence sleuths have also been asked to gather information about other issues that may ignite trouble during the polls. They include disputes relating to properties, religious places and others, according to the officials.

The directive came in the wake of several incidents involving the marriage of Hindu girls with Muslim boys by allegedly keeping the girls in the dark about the religion of the boys in some parts of the state.

Saffron outfits have been quite vocal against incidents of alleged 'love jihad'. The RSS too had recently indicated that it wanted an effective strategy to prevent such cases.

The directive came close on the heels of the UP government's move to enact a law to prevent incidents of alleged 'love jihad' (Muslim youths marrying Hindu girls under false pretenses) in the state. The government was mulling to bring an ordinance to stop religious conversions, specifically aimed at preventing 'love jihad'.