MP cabinet approves ‘love jihad law’, proposes 10 year jail term with Rs 50,000 penalty

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet has approved ‘love jihad’ law or the MP Freedom of Religion Bill 2020 after a special meeting chaired by the chief minister. After the approval by the cabinet, the bill will now be presented in the state Assembly.

Under the new MP Freedom of Religion Bill 2020, forced conversion of a minor, woman or a person from Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, would draw a minimum jail term of 2 to 10 years with a minimum penalty of Rs 50,000. Under new Bill, forcing religious conversion on someone will attract 1-5 years of imprisonment and a minimum Rs 25,000 fine. After the approval by the cabinet, the bill will now be presented in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly for final passage. Any marriage solemnized only for the purpose of converting a person will be considered null and void under the provisions of this proposed legislation. Under the proposed law, no person in Madhya Pradesh will be able to convert anyone directly or otherwise through marriage or by any other fraudulent means by luring or intimidating anyone, officials have said, quoting the chief minister.

A person involved in converting another person by misleading, luring, threatening or through marriage will be prosecuted. The sentence will be up to 10 years in the cases of religious conversion of minors, groups, or of those belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Blood relatives, including parents of victims of such religious conversion, can file complaint, the official said. MP has become the third BJP-ruled state to clear anti-love jihad law after Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.