A 22-year-old pregnant Hindu woman was heckled and humiliated publicly allegedly by Bajrang Dal workers for marrying a Muslim youth in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district, about 350 kilometres from Lucknow.
The woman's marriage was termed as 'Love Jihad' by the saffron outfit members.
They forcibly took her and her husband to the police station. The husband and his brother, who was also with him, were arrested while the woman was handed over to her parents.
The woman, a resident of UP's Bijnore district, and the Muslim youth had reached the sub-divisional magistrate's office at Kanth in the district to get their marriage registered. Bajrang Dal (BD), who had reached there by then, on getting the information, intervened and heckled her.
A one-minute video of BD workers heckling the woman went viral on social media.
''Where is the permission of the district magistrate?....the new law (to tackle love jihad) has been brought especially for people like you,'' one of the BD workers was heard telling the woman.
However, the woman said that she was 22 years old and that she had married the youth on her own volition and had been living with him for the past five months.
The police said that the youth and his brother were arrested under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance 2020, after the mother of the woman alleged that her daughter had been tricked into marrying the Muslim youth.
Earlier this month, a Muslim man was arrested in Bareilly district on charges of allegedly trying to 'force' a married Hindu girl to convert and 'marry' him.
Several cases of alleged 'Love jihad' were reported from different parts of UP since the ordinance came into effect last week. A case was registered in Muzaffarnagar district against a Muslim youth for allegedly trying to 'lure' a Hindu girl into conversion.
In the state capital of Lucknow, the police had stopped an interfaith couple from marrying as they had not obtained prior permission from the district magistrate.
Police said that under the new law, the person wanting to convert must apply to the district magistrate at least two months in advance.
The new law grants maximum imprisonment of 10 years and also a fine for religious conversion through deceit, force, allurement or any other fraudulent means or for the purpose of marriage.
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