The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to bring in a stringent legislation against `love jihad` cases on the rise in the state.
The Home Department has sent a proposal to the Department of Law in this regard.
The Law Department will work out the legal modalities after which the government is likely to issue an ordinance in this regard.
The state government`s decision comes after the chief minister had said in a by-election meeting in Jaunpur in October that his government was planning a strict law against love jihad.
The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh has also said the state would soon have a law against `love jihad`.
Chouhan`s Home Minister Narottam Mishra has said non-bailable charges would be applicable in cases of `love jihad` in Madhya Pradesh.
"We are making preparations to introduce Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill, 2020 in Assembly. It will provide for 5 years of rigorous imprisonment. We are also proposing that such crimes be declared a cognizable and non-bailable offence," Narottam Mishra said.
On the other hand, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday gave a strong statement on `love-jihad` and said that it is a term manufactured by the BJP to divide the nation.
"Marriage is a matter of personal liberty and bringing a law to curb it is completely unconstitutional," he tweeted on Friday.
(With inputs from IANS)
