"Love Jihad" Ordinance In UP Comes Into Effect From Today On Approval Of Governor Anandiben Patel

On Saturday November 28, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel permitted an Ordinance promulgated by the state government against forcible or “dishonest” religious conversions.

The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Ordinance, 2020, comes into effect immediately across the state. The law prohibits conversion from one religion to another by “misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion, allurement or marriage”.

Earlier this week, the Uttar Pradesh Government had cleared the Ordinance  to check “unlawful religious conversions” and “inter-faith marriages with the sole intention of changing a girl’s religion”.

UP Governor Anandiben Patel

According to the law, a marriage will be declared “shunya” (null and void) if the “sole intention” was to “change a girl’s religion”.

“Those getting the conversion done in violation of the provisions of the proposed law would have to face jail term of up to 10 years,” the government said in a statement. If it is found that the conversion is done “forcibly, through atrocity or cheating”, the offence will be non-bailable.

BJP-ruled states of Haryana and Madhya Pradesh have also sought to bring a law on “love jihad”. Last week, at least five Opposition-ruled states condemned the move as an encroachment on personal liberty, and an attempt to create a communal divide in the country.