On November 24, the Uttar Pradesh government promulgated the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance. The la...
On November 24, the Uttar Pradesh government promulgated the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance. The law makes the private choice of a person who converts to another religion subject to the whims of the government of the day.
This directly violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private”.
Much of the conversation around the legislation has revolved around how it further seeks to marginalise Indian Muslims, given that the ordinance came after the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath had spoken of “love jihad”: a Hindu nationalist conspiracy theory that claims than Muslim men masquerade as Hindus in order to woo Hindu women with the aim of converting them to Islam.
On October 31, Adityanath said that anyone who “conceals their identity and plays with our sister’s respect” will face their funerals (“ram nam satya hai ki yatra”).
To this end, the ordinance simply bans conversion due to marriage.
State terror
The result of this law has been horrific, with both police as well as vigilante action against inter-religious couples. In the most egregious...
