Did the “India of our dreams” include restrictions on whom we choose as our life partner? Does the state reserve the right to intrude in the personal lives of our citizens?
Apparently, it does, the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have introduced an additional law to the existing Special Marriages Act, 1954 wherein they claim to “safeguard” Hindu women from converting to the Muslim faith after falling “prey” to the love of Muslim men.
Taking the cry of Hindutva way too far, this law is not only outrageous but questions the underlying principles in our constitution that time and again emphasize on tolerance and respect towards all religions in India.
This demeaning law expects an inter-caste marriage to be registered 30 days before the marriage materializes, giving enough time for anyone to raise objection to the righteousness of such an alliance.
A large number of love jihad cases have already been registered in Uttar Pradesh, some of which have seen the annulment of such inter- caste marriages in which the couple declare their love and there was no prima facie evidence of coercion or violence to convert into the faith of the husband.
After a lot of the harm has already been done, the
Allahabad high court finally decides to step in on the matter and hear pleas
against the ordinance, the high court has employed a five-member bench and is
yet to take into consideration more pleas before taking a decisive action in
the matter.
At a time when the government should be collectively
working to tackle the ongoing pandemic, roll-out vaccinations pan India,
improve fiscal deficits, focus on health care and immunization programmes, they
seem to be much more intrigued in tracking down couples who seemed to have
committed the “love jihad”
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