MP cabinet passes ‘love jihad’ law,’ forced conversion calls for 10-year incarceration

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan Cabinet approved the ‘Love jihad’ legislation or the MP Freedom of Religion Bill 2020. The new legislation calls for 2-10 years’ imprisonment for the involuntary marriage of a minor or a woman from a lower caste.

Madhya Pradesh Home Secretary Narottam Mishra said, “Under the new MP Freedom of Religion Bill 2020, forced conversion of a minor, woman or person from Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, a minimum prison term of 2-10 years with a minimum penalty of Rs 50,000 would be imposed.”

“Under the new bill, forcing a religious conversion will attract 1-5 years of imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs 25.000.”said the Home Secretary.

Following the approval of the Cabinet, the bill will now be submitted to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly for final passage.

“This bill will replace the Religious Freedom Act of 1968 (after the approval by the state Assembly),” said the Secretary

Any marriage celebrated solely for the purpose of converting an individual would be deemed null and void pursuant to the provisions of this proposed legislation, he added.

It is also provided that anyone willing to convert shall apply to the district administration two months earlier, Mishra said.

Under the proposed law, no person in Madhya Pradesh will be able to convert anyone directly or otherwise through marriage or by any other fraudulent means by luring or intimidating anyone, officials have said, quoting the chief minister.

A person involved in converting another person by misleading, luring, threatening or through marriage will be prosecuted.

The sentence will be up to 10 years in the cases of religious conversion of minors, groups, or of those belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

Blood relatives, including parents of victims of such religious conversion, can file complaint, the official said.