Madhya Pradesh Government Proposes 10 year of Imprisonment for Forcing Interfaith Marriage

After Uttar Pradesh's ‘love jihad’ ordinance,  BJP-led government of Madhya Pradesh is all set to pass a bill imposing 10 years of jail term for forced conversion amid marriage.  

MP Government's Dharm Swatantrya (Religious Freedom) Bill 2020 has the following key provisions: 

• Imprisonment for threatening and forcing someone into marriage in order to facilitate the religious conversion, 
• The proposed bill also mentions a five-year of imprisonment for priests, gurus, kazis and maulvis involved in such a marriage.
• Registration of the organisations conducting such marriages will be cancelled. 

Other states also have plans to enact laws against love- jihad  

In recent weeks, BJP-run states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh have indicated plans to enact laws to counter alleged attempts to convert Hindu women to Islam in the guise of marriage.

Concerned parties need to submit an application to district magistrate before conversion for marriage.   

The parties the parties concerned will have to submit an application to the district magistrate before the conversion for marriage, also it will be compulsory to obtain permission of the district magistrate for the person converting to another religion for marriage in a month advance.  

The offence under this law will be cognizable and non-bailable 

Any offence under this new proposed law would be cognizable and non-bailable. Those who help in solemnising marriages would also be treated as the main accused.The people who are accused of marriage by forced conversion will themselves have to prove their innocence and that the conversion has been carried out without any pressure, threat or allurement.  

“The drafted bill will be tabled before the cabinet in the second week of December and afterwards presented in the state Assembly during its session from 28th of  December."- Narottam Mishra