The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Madhya Pradesh has notified a legislation that lays out a prison term of up to 10 years for anyone...
The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Madhya Pradesh has notified a legislation that lays out a prison term of up to 10 years for anyone found guilty of using marriage to force someone to change their religion, PTI reported on Tuesday. The decree became a law after the Governor Anandiben Patel gave her assent to it.
“The Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 2021 has been promulgated and published in the gazette notification on March 27 after the approval given by the Governor a day earlier [on March 26],” Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Madhya Pradesh, Rajesh Rajora, said.
The new Act replaced the Freedom of Religion Bill which was passed by the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on March 8, amid opposition by the Congress and the treasury benches. The Bill replaced the Freedom to Religion Ordinance that came into effect on January 9, and was cleared in a special Cabinet meeting on December 26.
The law follows a campaign by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party against interfaith marriages. The party describes such marriages as “love jihad,” an unproven conspiracy theory used by its leaders and Hindutva groups to accuse Muslim men of converting Hindu women by the lure of marriage.
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly passed a similar law...
