Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, is proposing significant changes to the existing law of ‘love jihad’ by introducing the Uttar Pradesh Unlawful Religious Conversion Prohibition Bill 2024 in the assembly, aiming to impose a lifetime imprisonment for convicts.
On Monday, July 29, the government introduced the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion (Amendment) Bill 2024 in the state legislature which proposes to double the penalties for previously defined offenses and introduces new crimes with provisions for life imprisonment.
The Uttar Pradesh's Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 had provisions for sentences ranging from 1 to 10 years. Under this act, conversions solely for the purpose of marriage is deemed invalid.
Conversions that are accomplished by lying or dishonesty are likewise considered crimes as individuals must give the magistrate two months' notice before voluntarily converting.
The Act stipulates that coerced or dishonest conversions are punishable by fines up to Rs 15,000 and imprisonment for one to five years. If women, children, or people from the SC/ST community are involved in these conversions, the penalty rises to three to ten years in prison and a fine of Rs 25,000.
Additionally, the Act requires anyone wishing to convert to notify the district magistrate using a designated form two months in advance. If this provision is not followed, there might be a minimum fine of Rs 10,000 and a jail sentence ranging from six months to three years.
Another proposed amendment to the act would broaden the list of those who can report events. Reports of such crimes could previously only be made by the victim, their parents, siblings, or other close relatives. Anyone can now file a written report with the police, and it will be looked into.
Under this law, no bail will be granted for any offense, and cases will be heard in sessions courts or higher. Applications for bail will not be granted unless the public prosecutor has the chance to submit their case.
The Uttar Pradesh government is defending the bill, claiming that its goal is to protect women and other vulnerable people from being forced or tricked into converting into a certain religion. They stressed that everyone is covered under the proposed law, regardless of their religious background, and that it does not discriminate against any one group or faith.
Leader of the Samajwadi Party Fakhrul Hasan Chand, attacked the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government for proposing changes to the current law pertaining to "Love Jihad" and claimed that the BJP merely intended to engage in 'negative politics'.
In a self-made video, Chand said, "The BJP government, which has brought the ordinance on Love Jihad, already has a law on it. If someone traps someone in his/her love trap with some motive, then there is a law for it but BJP only wants to do negative politics. It does not want to do anything about unemployment and paper leak."
Earlier in the day, UP CM introduced four new Ministers of his cabinet - OP Rajbhar, Anil Kumar, Dara Singh Chauhan and Sunil Sharma - to the House on Monday as the Assembly session commenced. "These four Cabinet Ministers were part of this Assembly. I introduce them as part of the Cabinet in this House," Adityanath said while speaking at the Assembly.
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