Amid Love Jihaad row, the UP Cabinet has decided to introduce an ordinance against unlawful religious conversions, informed State Cabinet Minister Siddharth Nath Singh.
Offenders will now get a jail term of 1-5 years with Rs 15,000 penalty for forceful religious conversions. For conversions of minors and women of the SC/SC community, there will be a jail term of 3-10 years with a Rs 25,000 penalty.
Earlier in the day, the Allahabad High Court on Monday struck down two earlier judgements, which held that religious conversion “just for the purpose of marriage” was unacceptable, saying that the right to live with a person of choice, irrespective of religion, is intrinsic to right to life and personal liberty.
The order by a division bench of Justices Vivek Agarwal and Pankaj Naqvi is significant as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath had referred to the judgement to propose a new law to criminalise “love jihad”.
The earlier order of the court said that conversion just for the purpose of marriage is unacceptable. Dismissing a plea by a newly married couple, Justice MC Tripathi said, "The first petitioner has converted her religion on June 29, 2020 and just after one month, they have solemnised their marriage on July 31, 2020, which clearly reveals to this court that the said conversion has taken place only for the purpose of marriage."
The couple had approached the court to direct police and the woman's father not to disturb their marital life. The girl, whose parents are Muslim, converted to Hinduism just a month before her marriage.
“We hold the judgements in Noor Jahan and Priyanshi as not laying as good law,” the High Court said on Monday, according to reports.
The Allahabad High Court held that the right to live with a person of one's choice is intrinsic to the right to life and personal liberty irrespective of religion, Bar and Bench reported.
The court ruled that if an alleged conversion was under clout, the Constitutional Court was obliged to ascertain the wish and desire of the girls as they were above the age of 18 years.
