How the UP government ordinance is going to delay the inter-faith marriages? Love Jihad- Fact or Fiction?

 

  

 In India the people are very much habitual to interfere in personal affairs of others. Marriage is a social custom but also a personal affair of an individual. But in India marriage becomes a "social pressure" as soon as you are above 24 and 22 (for boys and girls resp.)  years of age . Every uncle-aunty in your colony looks after you as a marriage material and then soon " beta shadi kab kar rhe ho "becomes a typical everyday question.  In simple terms you and your family decisions about YOUR marriage are largely dictated by the society. Common caste, common religion, common gotra, uncommon surname (this is common in many parts of Maharashtra) and whatnot. This match-making list goes on filtering your choices. But when a girl/boy falls in love with a girl/boy, the moral policing by the society becomes a BIG BROTHER as said by George Orwell . This phenomena becomes complex when the couple belongs to different religions. The situation become worse when one of them is Hindu , Muslim or Christian as there is a large propaganda of "forced religious conversion" running around the country and nowadays this is deepening in the Indian society. One example of the strength of this propaganda is taking down an Ad by Tanishq jewelers. Now the question is "who is giving free hand to these unnecessary policing"?  and "whether the state should interfere in the marriage institution" ?

    Recently the Uttar Pradesh Government passed an ordinance for "Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion " on 24 November, 2020. The law is facing backlash from various sections of the Indian society while many people have welcomed it . The ordinance says that no person shall convert, either directly or indirectly from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage nor shall any person abet, convince or conspire such conversion. 

    Now , this act along with the special marriage act becomes a trouble for inter faith marriages which are still unacceptable by many parents and society as a whole . Now let's assume that you belong to religion A and your partner belongs to religion B residing in the same district of Uttar Pradesh  and are willing to marry each other and your "hopefully" your parents are supporting this marriage . You'll have to follow the procedure explained here.  The reason of trouble is that from now onward  to register under Special marriage act in Uttar Pradesh  you will be required to give notice thereof in writing in the form specified in the Second Schedule to the Marriage Officer of the district in which at least one of the parties to the marriage has resided for a period of not less than thirty days immediately preceding the date on which such notice is given. The Marriage Officer shall keep all notices given under section 5 with the records of his office and shall also forthwith enter a true copy of every such notice in a book prescribed for that purpose, to be called the Marriage Notice Book, and such book shall be open for inspection at all reasonable times, without fee, by any person desirous of inspecting the same. The Marriage Officer shall cause every such notice to be published by affixing a copy thereof to some conspicuous place in his office. I guess you have read the highlighted part carefully. Now comes the "Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion'' ordinance . Under this ordinance the bride/groom/converter has to give in written to the  prescribed officer (DM or ADM)  if they want to convert and that they are not forced to do so by any means. The punishment under the new law is a jail term from one to five years, and a fine of Rs 15,000. But if the woman involved is a minor or belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe, the jail term would range from three to 10 years, he said. The fine would increase to Rs 25,000. These provisions do not apply to marriages in the same religion and castes. Many people don't even register their marriage for years and still continue to be husband and wife. 

It is already difficult for interfaith couples to get married. The religious radicals are always there for so called moral policing. Now the state is becoming a moral police. Generally women in India change their surnames after marriage by will , not by force and it is very much plausible that when a SC/ST girl marries a boy from different religion , she will have to give it in written to the DM/ADM that she is not forcibly converting her religion . Why the state is  getting so much caring for a SC/ST girls? Where was all this care at the time of Hathras incident ? and why a 60 days long prior notice is required in such case when in SMA ( Special Marriage Act ) the notice period is just 30 days ? It is not clear .  For Hadiya , the marriage went troublesome as some people alleged that she was forcefully converted to Islam by her Husband . She went to SC to get relief .The court emphasized the principles of individual autonomy and dignity .  The important point here is not the SC judgement but the need to go to the top court for such a personal issue. Take an another example, if a notice of inter-faith marriage under SMA is given to ADM/DM and it is pasted on some conspicuous place in his office and the parents who I assume that are against the marriage and the couple has fled from the home, will the state authority is going to protect such couples (adults) ? What if the state authority harass the couple ?

Look at an example here. A couple was harassed at a passport office just because one of them was from Muslim community . The woman was asked to change name and religion at the Lucknow passport office just because she was married to a Muslim. The couple wrote to the then EAM late Smt.Sushma Swaraj and the issue was resolved.  

The act says that the onus to prove that the conversion has not been done forcibly will lie on the person accused of the act and the convert. In most of the cases it is seen the families of couples has alleged that the girl is converted forcefully , kidnapped or a false case is registered.   Why should a girl/boy should prove that he/she is not forcefully converted? The interesting thing here is that the minister of home affairs for state SHRI G. KISHAN REDDY has said in Lok Sabha in an answer to the question that whether any of the Central Agencies have reported any case of Love Jihad from Kerala during the last two years (2018-2020) . His answer was "Article 25 of the Constitution provides for the freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion subject to public order, morality and health. Various courts have upheld this view including the Kerala High Court. The term ‘Love Jihad’ is not defined under the extant laws. No such case of ‘Love Jihad’ has been reported by any of the central agencies. However, two cases from Kerala involving inter-faith marriages have been investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).  NIA has found no evidence of Love Jihad.

  If a girl is forcefully harassed to convert she'll come to the police . Why such a patriarchal mindset that ' we have to safeguard our sisters from THEM' ' it is our duty', etc ? What do the government think of girls? Are they dimwitted to get easily carried away by anyone  ?  Why are we dividing the already divided society? The state government needs a law for protection of  interfaith and inter caste married couples while strengthening the SMA,1954, not on the conversion. The more the state encourages the inter caste and inter faith marriages , the more we will move towards the goals of our constitution.

Reference : 

SC judgement : Hadiya Case

Loksabha Question and Answers

Special Marriage act, 1954

UP Government ordinance for "Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion "