Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): “We are planning to ask the marriage registrars and other institutions which are involved in conducting marriages, to conduct police verification to check love jihad cases”, said home minister Narottam Mishra to the media here on Thursday, December 15.

The controversial minister then added that in these institutions the application for the marriage is submitted a month prior to the marriage. So, the Marriage Registrar Bureau and other institutions involved in the registration process like the notary can be asked to perform police verification of the applicants before conducting the marriage.

लव जिहाद की घटनाओं को रोकने के लिए मैरिज रजिस्ट्रार ब्यूरो और विवाह की अन्य पंजीयन संस्थाओं को लड़का-लड़की का पुलिस वेरिफिकेशन कराने पर सरकार गंभीरता से विचार कर रही है। pic.twitter.com/ZyMcJaAdyh

— Dr Narottam Mishra (@drnarottammisra) December 15, 2022

This controversial and blatantly unconstitutional statement seeks to authorize an invasion on both the privacy of individuals and their autonomy. An ultra right wing hysteria –clearly sanctioned by the political class is actually criminalizing inter-caste and inter-faith co-habitation; phenomena that the Special Marriages Act was especially enacted for.

In Madhya Pradesh the Freedom of Religion Act 2021 was passed to “curb religious conversions” carried out solely for the purpose of marriage. Citizens for Justice and Peace (cjp.org,in) has challenged the constitutionality of this law in 2020. Recently the Madhya Pradesh High Court too has struck down the most controversial sections. Section 5 of the act prohibits unlawful conversion from one religion to another by use of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion and any other fraudulent means like allurement, or promise of marriage. “Offenders” of the act can face an imprisonment of one to five years.

MP HC bars coercive acts by government

On November 18, 2022, a division bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court barred the state government from using coercion against anyone who disobeys section 10 of the MP Freedom of Religion Act, which requires anyone who wishes to convert to another religion to notify the district administration in advance. The petitioners had asked the court to invalidate the MP Freedom of Religion Act 2021 as being unconstitutional.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court prohibed the State Government from using coercion against anyone who violates Section 10 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021, which calls for anyone wishing to change their religion to make a declaration to the District Magistrate.

A bench of Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Prakash Chandra Gupta further ordered the state not to prosecute the adult citizens if they solemnize the marriage of their own free will after finding section 10 to be prima facie unconstitutional.

The division bench had reserved decision on a number of petitions seeking to keep interfaith weddings beyond of the Act’s reach and challenging the constitutionality of the 2021 Act.

In one of the pleas, a specific prayer was made to strike down Sections 2(a), 2(b), 2(c), 2(d), 2(e), 2(i), 3 (Prohibition of conversion from one religion to another), 4 (Complaint against the conversion of religion), 5 (Punishment for contravention of Section 3), 6 (any marriage performed in contravention of Section 3 shall be deemed null and void.), 10 (Declaration before conversion of religion) and 12 (Burden of Proof) of the Act.

Related:

No coercive action against voluntary religious conversion: MP High Court

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INDORE: In a new, all time low for the human rights and law and order matrix in the country, the Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday moved against author Dr Farhat Khan, whose book on ‘Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System’ is the subject of a police investigation and she faces an FIR along with former principal of Government Law College Indore Inamur Rahman, professor Dr Mirza Mojij and the publisher of the book. All three are threatened with arrests, reports Times of India.

Home minister Narottam Mishra warned on Tuesday, December 7, that he would write to the department concerned to “revoke her PhD”, and further threatened that swift action will be taken against those spreading religious extremism. Mishra openly said that he has issued instructions to police to arrest the accused in the case. “We have formed teams to arrest the accused. They will be nabbed soon,” the home minister told reporters in Bhopal. 

On amazon, the 2015 publication, shows as being co-authored by Dr Sheetal Kanwal and Dr Farhat Ali Khan, Amar Law Publication’s Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System for LLM Students. It is not so far known what action has been ‘ordered’ against the co-author, Dr Sheetal Kanwal.

Meanwhile, all four –the publisher, Dr Farhat Ali Khan, former principal of the Government Law College, Indore, Inamur Rahman and Dr Mirza Mopjij — have been booked by Bhanwarkuan police in Indore on the basis of a complaint by ABVP leader Lucky Adiwal, who is pursuing an LLM degree at the same college. They are accused of promoting and distributing the book that ‘encourages animosity between religions and promotes enmity between groups’. On December 7, the anticipatory bail pleas of principal Rahman and professor Mojij were rejected by sessions Judge Rakesh Kumar Goyal. ACP Dishesh Agrawal told TOI: “Soon, we will also announce a bounty on two of the accused. 

According to an FIR copy, accessed by ANI news and reported by The Print, a case was registered against writer Farhat Khan, owner of Amar Law Publication, Hitesh Khetrapal, Law College principal Inam Ur Rehman and College Professor Mirza Mojiz under sections 153 A, 153B, 295A, 500, 504, 505, 505 (2) and 34 of the IPC.

Bhanwarkuan Police Station in charge Shashikant Chaurasia told the media, “ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) student union have lodged a complaint that the book contains much such content which hurt the religious sentiments of a community. It is likely to disturb the communal harmony between the two communities, it may lead to violence.”

“Acting on the complaint, a case was registered against the accused and further investigation into the matter is underway,” Chaurasia added. Notably, state home minister Narottam Mishra had also instructed Indore Commissioner to investigate the matter and registered FIR against the accused within 24 hours.

Earlier on December 3, the college principal Inam Ur Rehman had resigned following an uproar in the Law College for the last three days. He submitted his resignation to Additional Director Higher Education Kiran Saluja.

Principal Rehman had then told ANI, “I am very hurt by the ruckus created by outside students. I don’t want to stay here anymore. I wanted to take this college to a higher level but I think it is not in my control. There was no bad environment of any kind here before but now they are spoiling the college environment so I am leaving.”

Owner of the publication house, Hitesh Khetrapal reportedly told the media, “There was a controversy about this book two years ago. When the matter came to light, we had a discussion with the writer and changed the pages containing controversial content. Farhat also submitted a written apology that such incident will not occur again.” (ANI)

The Madhya Pradesh Police are trying to “ascertain the role of principal and the accused professor” in this entire episode.” Police have booked the accused under IPC for defamation, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, and making assertions prejudicial to national integration. In their bail applications, the two professors submitted that the book has been in the college library since 2014 while Dr Rahman was appointed principal in 2019, and Dr Mirza was appointed vice-principal after 2014. The book was not for issuance to students and has been placed separately in the library, they said.

The complainant, an ABVP member, however, searched for it in the library and got it issued though he is not a student of the course related to the subject, submitted the defence counsel.

The ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) is an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamesvak Sangh (RSS) and responsible for a series of conflict-driven incidents in various campuses of the country. 

After the controversy broke last week, Dr Rahman formed a probe committee and removed the professors against whom allegations had been made off teaching duty, the counsel argued, adding that Dr Rahman and Dr Mojij only have supervisory roles in the college. Intervenor counsel Govind Singh Bais submitted that both the professors had recommended the book to students. “As many as four students have submitted an affidavit in court stating that the professors recommended the book for the syllabus,” he said. Strangely, after hearing both sides, the court rejected the bail application.    

Who is Narottam Mishra, MP’s home minister?

 In April 2022, like in over a dozen locations all over the country, Madhya Pradesh had seen violence break out after controversial slogans and even arms had accompanies the spate of Ram Navmi related Shobha Yatras. At the time, Mishra, occupying the home minister’s chair had made the controversial remarks as reported by India Today. In a news item after live TV coverage, India Today had reported, under the heading  “Why violence in our festivals only? MP Home Minister defends bulldozer action on rioters– “The rioters will not allow communal harmony until they are cut to size,” MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on live TV. “This is the only way.”

“Ram Navami comes once every year but 12 places across the country reported violence. (Clashes) in JNU over eating non-vegetarian food on Ram Navami. All these happen during our festivals and never during theirs. Is that not correct?” Mishra told India Today TV as he responded to allegations that the BJP uses festivals like Ram Navami to spread communal hatred in society even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks about “sabka saath, sabka vikas”.

This had been preceded by unprecedented and unilateral bulldozing of homes of Muslims living in Khargone, MP.  The district administration had razed the properties allegedly of stone pelters with bulldozers, much like the administration in Uttar Pradesh under Yogi Adityanath. “The rioters will not allow communal harmony until they are cut to size,” the minister said on live TV. “This is the only way.”

Related:

Six Govt Law college teachers taken off duty after ABVP complaint: MP

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Madhya Pradesh’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra decided to address a crisis brewing in Surana area of Ratlam district by invoking communal history from Uttar Pradesh. Mishra said that there was a “conspiracy to make Surana of Ratlam as ‘Kairana’ of Madhya Pradesh and that it will not be allowed to succeed.”

#Ratlam के #सुराना में स्थिति पूरी तरह प्रशासन के नियंत्रण में है।

वहां पुलिस की अस्थाई चौकी बनाकर असामाजिक तत्वों के खिलाफ जिलाबदर व रासुका के तहत कार्रवाई शुरू कर दी गई है। अवैध अतिक्रमण और विवाद के अन्य स्थानीय मामले भी शीघ्र सुलझा लिए जाएंगे।@JansamparkMP @mohdept pic.twitter.com/xDM6ew33fa

— Dr Narottam Mishra (@drnarottammisra) January 20, 2022

In Uttar Pradesh, Kairana was put in the spotlight in December 2021, in the run up to Assembly Elections when Home Minister Amit Shah followed UP CM Adityanath, and invoked the alleged ‘exodus’ from Kairana. Interestingly this matter was last spoken about in the run up to the 2017 elections. BJP had claimed that Hindu families had left town after threats. Shah’s speech was at a pre-election rally in Saharanpur and he also recalled the communal riots of Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, and the alleged ‘migration’ from Kairana in the same way Adityanath had recounted it in November. He claimed he had said 2017, “You bring BJP to power once; aapke palayan karane-waale Uttar Pradesh se palayan kar jaayenge.” (Translation: Those responsible for your exodus will flee UP.)” In November 2021, Adityanath was in Kairana and had also recalled how he had come to Shamli in 2017 and also invoked the alleged “exodus” of Hindus from the town and said those who “shoot at traders now will be dispatched to the next world.”

In Madhya Pradesh, according to news reports, there is a land dispute in the area where “illegal encroachment” has been alleged. Some have tried to make it an issue of ‘Hindu victimisation’ saying that the area has more Muslims living there than Hindus. The Hindus, who claim to be a ‘minority’ told Times Now that they were being ‘victimised’, however no one seems to have made a direct allegation or given proof of what this victimisation is. Times Now seems to have added the communal angle by reporting that “Hindu families in MP’s Surana village allege harassment by members of a community.”

Hindu families in MP’s Surana village allege harassment by members of a community.

Govind with more. #Surana #Ratlam pic.twitter.com/uBxtHLHK61

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) January 20, 2022

According to a report in News18, the villagers of Surana ‘warned’ of undertaking a mass migration a few days ago if the conflicts were not resolved. Collector Kumar Purushottam and SP Gaurav Tiwari reached the village and listened to the matter in a public hearing. Locals reportedly painted “This house is for sale” signs outside their houses as a sign of their protest and threatened to leave the village. According to the news report, the villagers also went to the collectorate on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum to the administration that reportedly stated, “If the administration does not protect against the activities of anti-social elements, then the people of the village will migrate.” The administration set up a committee for a “peaceful resolution of the dispute” and a “temporary police post has been made in the village”. Anti-social elements have been warned of strict action by the administration.  

The threat of ‘Palayan’ or exodus was also used in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad area last year. One Priyanshu Joshi, who claims to be a leader of an outfit named Hindu Samaj Party Yuva, sat on a ‘hunger strike’ demanding that two Muslim families leave the “posh” Hindu colony of Lajpat Nagar in Moradabad. Local residents had raised banners, and a few Hindu families had threatened ‘a palayan or an exodus’ that had been widely reported. However the police acted and said that a case was registered against the persons who made communal statements and investigations were initiated against Priyanshu and 14 others for the activities they carried out in the in Kathghar neighbourhood. 

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