The rape of a minor girl at a police station at Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh by the station in-charge is horrendous, to say the least. The incident is a reminder of Justice Mulla’s famous observation that “policemen are a bunch of criminals in uniform”.
Legal intervention in a democratic society should promote freedom of choosing a life partner.
The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 (better known as the “anti-love jihad law”) gives the impression that it is a law. Even though it has been issued by the governor of Uttar Pradesh (UP) as an ordinance, it is unfair on so many grounds that one must question if it is a law at all.
It is not a law in the sense that a democratic polity with a rule of law governance or constitutional government can recognise one. It is as much “law” as the discriminatory laws that were active against the Blacks in the history of the United States (US) and Jews in Germany. To add to its infamy, it has been passed as an ordinance without even attempting to seek a modicum of democratic legitimacy through the UP Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. To even test this “law” against the provisions and principles of the Constitution of India is