The apex court s decision came in response to a bunch of petitions which challenged the validity of the laws which regulate religious conversions due to inter-faith marriages
Updated Jan 06, 2021 | 13:40 IST
The SC will hear petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, and the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018. Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday agreed to examine the controversial state laws in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on religious conversions due to interfaith marriages. The apex court, however, refused to stay controversial provisions in these laws.
The laws brought to tackle the so-called love jihad cases of Muslim men luring Hindu women to marry for conversion, seek to regulate interfaith marriages and religious conversions. However, they have fetched widespread criticism for being based on the right-wing theory of ‘love jihad’.
BJP-ruled states are making a mockery of the constitution through laws on love jihad, said All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi after Madhya Pradesh Cabinet passed the Dharma Swatantrata (Religious Freedom) Ordinance, 2020, a law against love jihad, on Tuesday. There s no definition of Love-Jihad anywhere in the Constitution. BJP ruled states are making a mockery of the constitution through Love Jihad laws. If BJP governed states want to make laws, then they should make laws on ensuring minimum support price for procurement of farmers and for providing employment to people, said Owaisi. He said that by making these laws, BJP is violating fundamental rights under the Constitution which states that the government has no role in the personal life of citizens.
A file photo of Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi. | PTI
Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Sunday opposed the need for legislations that target interfaith marriages, saying that such laws would only create social hatred and polarise the society, reported PTI.
“An atmosphere of hatred and division is being created in the society in the name of ‘love jihad’,” Tyagi told reporters after the national executive meeting of the JD(U) in Patna. “Provisions of the Constitution and Criminal Code of Procedure give freedom to two adults to choose life partners of their choice irrespective of one’s religion, caste or region.”