Under The New Anti-Conversion Law In UP, A Muslim Man Was Arrested For Trying To Register His Consensual Marriage To A Hindu Woman.
India is no stranger to controversial laws. Remember CAA? Yeah, that happened just earlier this year. And now, yet another law passed by the UP government led by Yogi Adityanath has caused quite a stir. I am talking about the anti-conversion ordinance became law a week ago in the state all thanks to the heightened attention around the concept of “Love Jihad”. We think that no two consenting adults should be judged for their religion, but what do we know. All we do know is that now, a lot of innocent couples are being heckled and harassed because of this law. Take this couple from Moradabad for instance. A Muslim man and his brother were arrested after he and a Hindu woman tried to register their consensual marriage.
The groom and his brother were arrested when they and the 22-year-old Hindu bride went to register their marriage in the district’s Kanth area. The two men were handed over to the police after being accosted by people from the right-wing group Bajrang Dal. The members of the group stopped the bride and groom from registering their marriage and took them to the police station.
In a short video that has gone viral on social media, you can see a group of men circling around the bride and asking her if she knows about the latest anti-conversion law. They can be heard saying, “Have you read the new law or not?” and “Ye tum jaise logon ke liye banana pada hai (the law had to be made for people like you)”.
"Law For Those Like You": UP Hindu Woman Heckled, Muslim Husband Arrested https://t.co/EnTvCQAcwd pic.twitter.com/dImSe2stwd
— NDTV (@ndtv) December 6, 2020
Also Read: This Ad Showing Hindu-Muslim Harmony Was Taken Off After Trolls Accused The Brand Of Glorifying Love Jihad. What Have We Turned Into?
However, the bride told reporters that this is not a case of Love Jihad since she got married to the Muslim man with full consent. She said, “I am an adult, I am 22 years old. I got married of my own free will on the 24th of July. This is the fifth month that we have been married.”
If the wedding was consensual then why is she and her husband being harassed? The police claim that the case filed by the bride’s mother who claims that the man tricked her into getting married to convert her to Islam. But there is no proof of this. It is not even clear if the woman had converted to Islam or was planning to. This is the fifth case that has been filed since the anti-conversion ordinance became a law merely a week ago. The two men have been booked under the law that works against forced conversions and if the charges are proved, they face 1-5 years in jail. This is shameful and pure harassment. If two adults are in a consensual marriage, nothing else matters.
However, according to a report in The Print, “The anti-conversion ordinance doesn’t name any religion but has been brought by the Yogi Adityanath government with the stated objective of curbing so called ‘love jihad’, which Hindutva hardliners describe as a “conspiracy” to convert gullible Hindu women to Islam by misleading them with promises of love.”
For those of you who are unaware, Love Jihad is a right-wing “conspiracy” that Muslim men try to seduce Hindu women to have them convert their religion. However, when the UP government passed a law to curb this very concept they failed to take into account the inter-caste couples that get married out of their own free will. And because of that a lot of couples, just like this one, are being subjected to harassment.
No matter what you believe, consent is the most important thing.
https://thehauterfly.com/lifestyle/kamalrukh-late-wajid-khans-wife-reveals-the-kind-of-pressures-she-was-subjected-to-convert-her-religion-an-anti-conversion-law-is-the-need-of-the-hour/
