Lucknow: The Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh is bringing a very strict law to curb the cases of ‘Love Jihad’. The new law provides for punishment up to life imprisonment. At the same time, the amount of fine has also been doubled. On the other hand, the opposition is calling this decision of the government as mere politics. Amidst all this, despite the strict law, the incidents of fraud in UP in the last one week are telling why the Yogi government had to bring a strict law on love jihad.
In fact, the Yogi Adityanath government had brought a law in the year 2020 to stop forced conversion in UP, which had a provision of punishment ranging from 1 to 10 years. This bill had a provision that religious conversion done only for marriage would be considered invalid. The government made the law but the cases of love jihad still did not decrease, so the Yogi government had to amend its old law and bring a new law. The government made it clear that the existing law is not enough to stop the conversion and mass conversion of SC-ST, women, minors and disabled people, that is why amendments are being made in the law.
The new law provides for 20 years of imprisonment or life imprisonment if found guilty, now any person can file an FIR in cases of conversion, whereas earlier in the case, the presence of the victim, parents or siblings was necessary to give information or complaint. Now no court below the Sessions Court will hear the cases of love jihad. In such a case, the bail plea will not be considered without giving a chance to the government lawyer. Also, all the crimes have been made non-bailable.
After the amendment in the law on love jihad in UP, cases are being opened one after the other. Victims have started coming forward openly for justice. The first case came from Agra where it is alleged that Mushtaq, a resident of Farrukhabad, trapped a 14-year-old girl in a love trap by posing as Raju and lured her and took her away. The accused used to run an Instagram ID in the name of Raju through which he came in contact with the girl. It was told that to gain the trust of the minor, Mushtaq used to apply tilak on the forehead and tie a sacred thread on the hand. The police have registered a case in the matter and started searching for the accused.
A similar case came to light from Bijnor where Naseem changed his name to Akash to trap the girl. Naseem first developed friendship with the woman and then pretended to be in love. The woman fell in love with the accused to such an extent that she was ready to leave everything for him. The married woman even divorced her husband to spend her life with Naseem. After this, Naseem married the woman according to Hindu customs and one day suddenly fled to Mohali. Naseem’s family members pressurized the victim that if she converts to Islam, Naseem will start living with them again. On the complaint of the victim, the police have registered a case and arrested the accused Naseem.
A similar case has come to light from Kushinagar in the past day where it is alleged that Ibrahim Ansari trapped the girl in his love trap by posing as Ayan Yadav and then married her. A few days after the marriage, when she came to know that he was a Muslim, the girl was forced to stay with him. Not only this, the accused imprisoned the victim in the house. While taking her out, he used to ask her to wear a burqa. Pressure was put on her to offer namaz every day. This harassment continued for the last 5 years, while recently the victim somehow escaped from the clutches of the accused and reached the police station and lodged a complaint. On the complaint of the victim, the police registered a case and arrested the accused Ibrahim Ansari and sent him to jail.
