LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, is taking a firm stance against ‘love jihad’ by proposing significant changes to the existing law. The introduction of the Uttar Pradesh Unlawful Religious Conversion Prohibition Bill 2024 in the assembly aims to impose a lifetime imprisonment for individuals convicted of ‘love jihad’. Additionally, the bill seeks to criminalise the funding of unlawful religious conversions. The bill was introduced today in the state asssembly on July 29 and the government will get it passed tommorow on July 30.
Under the current Uttar Pradesh’s Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, sentences for such offenses range from 1 to 10 years. The act already invalidates conversions conducted solely for the purpose of marriage and considers conversions through deceit or falsehood as criminal acts. The new bill intends to strengthen these provisions further by proposing a lifetime imprisonment for ‘love jihad’ convicts and addressing the issue of funding for unlawful religious conversions.
According to the Act, forced or deceitful conversions carry penalties of 1 to 5 years of imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 15,000. If such conversions involve minors, women, or members of the SC-ST community, the punishment increases to 3 to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000. The Act also mandates that individuals seeking conversions must notify the district magistrate two months in advance using a prescribed form. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in a jail term of 6 months to 3 years and a minimum fine of Rs 10,000.
Defending the bill, the Uttar Pradesh government asserts that it seeks to safeguard vulnerable individuals, particularly women, from being coerced or deceived into religious conversions. They emphasize that the proposed law does not discriminate against any specific community or religion and applies to all individuals, irrespective of their religious background.
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