JOIN US'Love jihad' to be non-bailable offence in Uttar Pradesh, 5 year imprisonment if found guilty
A 'love jihad' charge will be a "non-bailable offence" in Uttar Pradesh and the guilty could be imprisoned for up to five years besides being fined.
A proposal to enactment the process of a stringent law to deal with cases of alleged 'love jihad' (Muslim youths marrying Hindu girls under false pretenses), was prepared by the UP home department, sources said on Friday.
The proposal would be sent to the law department and after getting its approval would be placed before the state Cabinet for its nod, sources said.
The law would cover marriages after conversion as well as marriages under false pretenses.
Sources said that anyone wanting to convert on one's own volition to marry would have to compulsorily give an application in this regard to the district magistrate concerned a month in advance.
The proposal comes within days after UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's warning those indulging in 'love jihad' to be ready for 'Ram Naam Satya' journey (Hindu funeral chant during the last journey).
Adityanath had said that the state government would make the law to deal with 'love jihad' so stringent that those wanting to violate it would think many times before doing so.
''Cases of love jihad have been pouring in from different parts of the state....there is an urgent need to enact a stringent law to deal with it,'' said a senior UP BJP leader here.
Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders, however, said that the BJP government was trying to make it a ''communal issue''. ''The government must act in cases of forced conversion but the state government, it seems, wants to divide the people in the name of religion,'' said an SP leader.
Several other states, including Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, were also contemplating to enact laws to deal with alleged cases of 'love jihad'.