Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government’s controversial law which aims to curb “Love Jihad” has been challenged in the Allahabad High Court.
A petition has been filed against the law named “Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020” seeking to declare the ordinance as unconstitutional and void.
The law, approved on November 27, aims to curb "love jihad" cases wherein Muslim boys allegedly marry Hindu girls just to convert them to Islam, said the UP government.
In the past two weeks, at least half a dozen cases have been filed under the law and inter-faith marriages have been stopped by the police calling them “love jihad’.
The PIL, filed through advocates Devesh Saxena and Shashwat Anand, says these provisions give the state policing powers over a citizen's choice of life-partner or religion.
“This law is against the fundamental rights to individual autonomy, privacy, human dignity and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution,” says the petitioner.
The PIL says, “The Ordinance assumes a 'tone-deaf' position to the latest ruling of the High Court, which is in line with the expansive meaning given to 'personal liberty' by the Supreme Court in various verdicts.”
The petitioner claims the provisions of the Ordinance dated 27.11.2020 are completely arbitrary, perverse, unreasonable and erroneous in law, besides being violative of principles of Article 14, 19, 21 and 25 of the Constitution of India and thus, the same should be declared ultra-vires the constitution.
