Uttar Pradesh introduces discriminatory law on ‘love jihad’
Date: 24 November 2020
Category: Discrimination
The BJP-led state government in Uttar Pradesh has introduced an ordinance criminalizing “unlawful religious conversions” through marriage, in an attempt to “curb” the alleged menace of “love jihad”. The Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance was promulgated by Governor Anandiben Patel (former CM of BJP government in Gujarat) on November 28. On the same day, the first case under the law was registered against a Muslim resident of Bareilly. Interestingly, the case is an old one and was settled in court in 2019. A person found guilty of this charge can receive a sentence of 1-5 years of imprisonment or a fine of Rs15,000. In case of “mass conversions”, the term of imprisonment can go up to 10 years and a fine of Rs50,000. Allegations of “love jihad” in Uttar Pradesh have repeatedly been proven to be false by investigative agencies, but the rhetoric around a supposed Muslim conspiracy to convert Hindu women to Islam refuse to die. Just two weeks before the introduction of the law, the UP High Court had overturned an earlier judgement that called religious conversions for the sake of marriage to be unacceptable. The court called any interference in such matters as “a serious encroachment into the right to freedom of choice of the two individuals”. The new law puts the onus of proof on the person who wants to convert, instead of the state, as the “accused” has to prove that there has been no coercion involved in the conversion. Such individuals have to pledge before a designated officer that coercion has not been involved. The law also seems to discriminate heavily against the women’s choice, which also makes it a matter of gender discrimination. For these reasons, legal observers suggest that the law may not stand the test of a judicial scrutiny. The law in UP has inspired more BJP-led governments, including Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Karnataka, to consider similar laws.
Sources:
https://time.com/5915579/love-jihad-uttar-pradesh/
https://thewire.in/communalism/allahabad-high-court-conversion-marriage-love-jihad
https://thewire.in/government/uttar-pradesh-anti-conversion-ordinance-first-case
Karnataka government mulling over new law to counter “love jihad”
Date: 3 November 2020
Category: Discrimination
Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa stresses the need for a law that stops “religious conversions for the sake of marriage” in the state at a BJP party meeting on 3 November. On 28 November, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel announces that the party would push for a love jihad law in the next Legislative Assembly session. The announcements have already sparked anger among many sections of the population, who point out that such legislations would be a clear violation of individual freedom of choice, not to mention discriminatory and patriarchal. The Section 366 of Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes kidnapping and forced marriages, is already widely used in Karnataka to prevent interfaith/love marriages. An estimated 41 cases involving adults (as opposed to minors) have been filed in the Bengaluru region under this section in the last five years alone.
Sources:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/will-table-bill-on-love-jihad/article33204116.ece
Haryana to set up committee to frame law on ‘love jihad’
Date: 26 November 2020
Category: Discrimination
Haryana Home Minister Ajay VIj announces on 26 November that a three-member drafting committee to frame a law against ‘love jihad’, following a similar move by the UP government and repeated assertions by the Haryana government itself in this regard. According to Vij, the law will attempt to counter a conspiracy for forced religious conversions in the guise of marriage. He has sought advice from the Himachal Pradesh government, where a bill was passed last year against conversion by force, on the matter. The daylight murder of a 20-year-old Hindu college girl by a Muslim man in the Faridabad area of Haryana on October 26 has added fuel to demands by the BJP to enact a law against “love jihad”, although Faribadad police have not yet found evidence of any such conspiracy. The case has also grabbed the attention of BJP governments in other states such as Madhya Pradesh.
Sources:
https://thewire.in/government/haryana-sets-up-3-member-drafting-committee-to-frame-law-on-love-jihad
Madhya Pradesh to introduce bill against ‘love jihad’
Date: 17 November 2020
Category: Discrimination
The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh under Shivraj Singh Chauhan has announced its intention to bring forward a bill against “love jihad” in the state legislative assembly. The Home Minister Narottam Mishra made an announcement to this effect on 17 November. If found guilty, a person can receive a sentence of up to five years of rigorous imprisonment and the marriage will be declared null and void. The law will also make it mandatory for interfaith marriages to be notified to the district collector a month in advance. According to BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma, women belonging to SC/ST categories who convert to Islam or Christianity after marriage will lose their reservation status. Madhya Pradesh was the first state in the country to pass a law against religious conversions as far back as 1968. The Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act was originally introduced as a bill by the Congress government to counter the proselytising work of Christian missionaries, although it was rejected during its term. Later, it was passed by a non-Congress government, criminalizing the use of force or fraudulent methods to convert someone to a different religion. Since then, there have been attempts to make the law stronger. The ‘love jihad’ law will be the latest addition to this list. Despite the hullabaloo over forced conversions that has been going on in the state, neither the present government nor their like-minded predecessors (whose proposed amendments failed to receive the approval of the Governor as well as the President) have been able to present any considerable data proving that such a problem exists.
Sources:
https://thewire.in/communalism/madhya-pradesh-love-jihad-bill
https://thewire.in/communalism/madhya-pradesh-love-jihad-law
Tanishq ad trolled for promoting ‘love jihad’, taken down
Date: 14 October 2020
Category: Hate violence: Digital attacks
Popular jewellery brand Tanishq, owned by the Titan division of Tata Group, takes down a Diwali advertisement featuring a Hindu woman and her Muslim mother-in-law after a social media campaign to boycott Tanishq for promoting ‘love jihad’. Dubbed the ‘Ekatvam’ campaign, the ad shows the Muslim in-laws of the pregnant woman arranging a godbharai for her, although it is not a traditional Muslim custom. To her daughter-in-law’s confused query, the mother replies that it is tradition to “keep daughters happy everywhere”. The ad drew intense backlash from several quarters, including popular figures like Kangana Renaut, who called the ad makers “creative terrorists”. Some wanted to know why the daughter-in-law was always Hindu and never Muslim. As the online vitriol began to get out of hand and the hashtag #BoycottTanishq began trending, the company took down the advertisement from its social media handles and Youtube channel. The move has drawn flak from other sections who believe that the company should not have buckled under threat.
Sources:
Muslim firecracker sellers threatened against selling products with images of Hindu deities
Date: November 6, 2020
Category: Hate violence: Verbal
Ahead of Diwali, videos circulating on social media show men barging into Muslim-owned shops in the Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh and warning them not to sell firecrackers that have the images of Hindu gods or goddesses on them. The men, many of whom spot saffron scarves, warn the vendors that their stocks and shop will be burnt down and their licenses cancelled if they were found to be selling these items, although similar products have been sold all over the country for many years. The vendors are visibly scared and can be seen trying to mollify the goons. Some of them try to protest that they have no control over the packaging. The goons bring up subjects as varied as the protests in France following the publication of caricatures of Prophet Muhammed and the NRC protests in a bid to intimidate the shopkeepers. They also threaten to send decoy customers to check whether the vendors will continue to sell the products despite their threats.
Sources:
BJP wants Hyderabad to be renamed as Bhagyanagar, Hussain Sagar lake as Vinayak Sagar
Date: 27 November 2020
Category: Hate violence: Verbal
After changing the names of roads, cities and even stadiums in a bid to erase their Muslim roots, the BJP has set its eyes on the south Indian city of Hyderabad. Ahead of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections on December 1, BJP MP and campaigner Tejaswi Surya reiterated his party’s demand that the city be renamed as Bhagyanagar. The party has been claiming that this is the city’s original name, which was later changed under the auspices of its Muslim rulers. There is no historical evidence to back this claim. The party also wants the Hussain Sagar Lake, which was built by Sufi saint Hussain Shah Wali in 1563, to be renamed Vinayak Sagar lake. BJP national president Amit Shah, who was also in the city for campaigning, said they would free the city from “nawab, nizam culture” if voted to power. The campaign in Hyderabad took on a highly communal color this time, with Surya declaring that every vote for AIMIM under Asadudheen Owaisi will be a “vote against India”. He accused Owaisi of speaking Jinnah’s language of “rabid Islamism, separatism and extremism”.
Sources:
https://thewire.in/politics/hyderabad-ghmc-election-bjp-kcr-trs-aimim
Mosque torching: Eyewitnesses identity policemen as attackers, FIR ignores their accounts
Date: 25 November 2020
Category: Hate violence: Physical
Three men who survived the torching of Farooqia Mosque in Brijpuri area of northeast Delhi during the Delhi riots in February and accused armed police personnel of assaulting devotees and putting fire to the mosque are yet to have their testimonies included in the FIR, eight months after the incident. They have identified the presence of at least thirty to sixty armed policemen at the scene, along with other locals who came armed with guns, petrol bombs and swords. Many people present inside the mosque as well as the three survivors, which include the mosque muezzin, were brutally assaulted and left for dead. One of them caught a rioter telling others to kill the imam and his friends so they can “build a mandir at this place”, while a uniformed police officer wanted no Muslim body to remain inside to “pollute” the site where a temple will come up. The Station House Officer of Dayalpur police station, who is one of the police personnel identified by the victims, has also been named in attacks that took place in other parts of the city. Other senior officials in the rank of ACP and SHO have also been similarly named for either directly shooting at people or standing by idly as atrocities and hate speeches took place.
Sources:
https://caravanmagazine.in/conflict/men-in-uniform-torched-mustafabads-farooqia-masjid-assaulted-people-inside-locals
BJP Minister says no ticket for Muslims in Karnataka
Date: 30 November 2020
Category: Discrimination
Ahead of the by-election for Belgavi Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka, K S Eswarappa, BJP leader and state Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister, publicly announces that the party will not give tickets to Muslim candidates. The ticket can go to candidates from any Hindu group- Lingayats, Kurubas, Vokkaligas or Brahmins- but not to a Muslim, he said. He called Belgavi a centre of Hindutva and stressed that only a supporter of Hindutva will get the ticket.
Sources: