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The 21-year-old student was arrested on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh, solely days after the state enacted the law concentrating on “love jihad” — a time period utilized by radical Hindu teams who accuse Muslim males of making an attempt to transform ladies of different faiths to Islam.
Uttar Pradesh enacted the anti-conversion law, which makes “forced” or “fraudulent” spiritual conversions a non-bailable offense with a most punishment of 10 years in jail, on Saturday.
According to the law, a wedding will likely be declared “null and void” if the conversion of the lady is solely for that function. Those wishing to alter their faith after marriage want to use to high district authorities.
The similar day the law got here into impact, a person named Tikaram Rathone filed a report back to police, alleging the male student was making an attempt to coerce his 20-year-old Hindu daughter, who’s married, to transform to Islam and marry him.
Rathore alleged the person had developed a friendship together with his daughter in school, and wished to “coerce, coax and allure” her into changing.
“Despite constant disapproval from me and my family, he (the accused) is putting pressure on us through abuse and death threats,” Rathore stated in his criticism.
Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district confirmed by way of Facebook that the person was arrested on Wednesday.
Critics have referred to as the law Islamophobic, unconstitutional, and regressive. Many are involved it’ll result in misuse and harassment, and that the law will make it more and more tough for interfaith {couples} to marry within the nation.
Other states — together with Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, and Assam — have introduced plans to comply with Uttar Pradesh and introduce related legal guidelines.
All 5 states are ruled by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has confronted accusations of perpetuating anti-Muslim sentiment.
The BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has come under fireplace for related legal guidelines earlier than. Last 12 months, the BJP-ruled state of Himachal Pradesh amended its anti-conversion law, prohibiting conversion by misrepresentation, drive, fraud, undue affect, coercion, allurement or marriage. It additionally launched non-bailable jail sentences for the offense.
Critics of the BJP say spiritual polarization has elevated since Modi swept into energy in 2014. Hindu-Muslim marriages have lengthy attracted controversy in India — however tensions have ratcheted up recently, with the idea of “love jihad” dominating headlines in current months.
In October, the favored jewellery model Tanishq ran an commercial that includes an interfaith couple — a Hindu girl and a Muslim man. After right-wing Indians accused them of selling “love jihad” and trolled them closely on-line, the corporate pulled the advert, saying it feared for the “well being” of its staff.
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