5-year imprisonment, non-bailable offence: Madhya Pradesh to bring law against forced inter-faith marriages

Madhya Pradesh dwelling minister Narottam Mishra on Tuesday mentioned the state authorities was making preparations to introduce a legislation in opposition to pressured inter-faith marriages within the subsequent Assembly session.

The laws, Mishra mentioned, might be referred to as the ‘Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill, 2020’. If handed, it can maybe be the primary such legislation within the nation.

“Making preparations to introduce Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill, 2020, in Assembly. It will provide for five years of rigorous imprisonment. We’re also proposing that such crimes be declared a cognisable and non-bailable offence,” information company ANI quoted Mishra as saying.

“There will be provision to declare marriages taking place forcefully, out of fraud or by tempting someone for religious conversion as null and void. Those assisting in committing this crime will also be considered a party to it,” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief additional mentioned.

 

Mishra added that underneath the proposed legislation, the mother and father/siblings of an individual who has been forcibly transformed must mandatorily file a grievance for motion. “Religious leader who is converting the person will have to inform the District Magistrate one month in advance. We’ll introduce this bill in the next session,” he mentioned.

Earlier this month, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, too, had backed a possible legislation in opposition to pressured inter-faith marriages, saying his authorities would carry a strict legislation to counter the alleged apply.

Such marriages are referred to as ‘love jihad’ by right-wing activists to explain, what they allege, are cases of Muslim youths, pretending to be in love with Hindu women and, upon marriage, forcibly changing them to Islam. The demand for a strict legislation in opposition to this alleged apply picked up steam after the homicide final month of Nikita Tomar in Haryana’s Ballabhgarh.

In the wake of the incident, a number of BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka had instructed they’d carry legal guidelines to curb such cases.

However, earlier this 12 months, the central authorities, the place, similar to the aforementioned states, the BJP is in energy, had rejected the thought, saying that neither was such a time period outlined in legislation nor had any such case been reported by any of the central businesses.