After Uttar Pradesh, Bihar has joined the race of endorsing the need for an anti-love jihad law in the State to curb inter religious marriages. On December 21, a few members of a Hindutva outfit rallied across the capital city of Patna appealing to the Government to enact a law similar to that of Uttar Pradesh’s Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020.
One Mr. Hindu Yashraj Singh, as he calls himself, spoke to the media and said that this is the first march by them in the city to demand for a new law as the practice of “love jihad” is atrocious and has quickened the pace of conversions in the State. They have also threatened to block all roads in Patna during the upcoming Vidhan Sabha assembly meet, if the law is not implemented. A group of men, clad in saffron clothes and tika, have also revealed that they will be writing a letter to the Governor of Bihar addressing the same issue.
Members of a Hindu outfit rally in Bihar, demanding implementation of law against ‘love jihad’ in the state pic.twitter.com/ks6Twkt6re
— Hindutva Watch (@Hindutva__watch) December 21, 2020
Union Minister Giriraj Singh, who represents Bihar’s Begusarai seat in the Lok Sabha has also favoured the enactment of a law that will prevent religious conversions which, as he claims, has become a menace in many states. According to Outlook, he urged the Nitish Kumar cabinet to realise that issues of ‘love jihad’ and population control have nothing to do with sampradayikta (
He said, “This menace needs to be rooted out and it will be desirable if the Bihar Government enacts a law to deal with the incidents of love jihad in the state. Some state governments like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka have initiated steps to introduce laws to prevent the incidents of love jihad”, reported the Times of India.
He made such remarks referring to the allegations made by the Kerala’s Syro-Malabar church that claimed 12 Christian women had been converted to Islam in the name of love jihad and taken to Syria in the past three years.
Maharashtra Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had also remarked that once the Bihar Government led by Nitish Kumar will enact a law against Love Jihad, the Maharashtra government will study it in depth and think about the same, reported Indian Express.
Contrary to popular belief that the rising cases of conversions is disrupting harmonious living in states, there is barely any data or evidence to suggest the same. Two days ago, a court in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district ordered the release of two men arrested under the new anti-conversion law because the police did not find any evidence against them, reported Times of India.
According to some media reports, both men who are brothers were arrested on December 4 at the registrar’s office after they went to make a record of one of the brother’s marriage to a Hindu woman. Right-wing group Bajrang Dal members, reached the marriage registration office and accosted the couple, handing them over to the police. The young 22-year-old wife of the Muslim man who was sent to a shelter home also suffered a miscarriage but the officials denied the same.
Related:
UP’s tryst with Love Jihad: The Ordinance and Constitutionality
Forget the ‘jihad’ bogey, UP cops seem to be after ‘love’ too