Chandigarh: A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath warned those waging ‘love jihad’ by invoking “Ram naam satya hai” — a Hindu funeral chant — Haryana’s Home Minister Anil Vij Sunday said the state was considering bringing in a legislation against love jihad.
“A law against love jihad is being considered in Haryana, ” Vij tweeted.
हरियाणा में लव जेहाद के खिलाफ कानून बनाने पर विचार किया जा रहा है ।
— ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) November 1, 2020
Haryana chief secretary Vijay Vardhan, however, told ThePrint that no notice or information about a legislation on love jihad had reached his office yet.
Vij’ statement comes days after a 21-year-old woman was shot dead outside her college in Haryana’s Ballabhgarh by two men. The CCTV footage of the murder had gone viral and sparked outrage. The woman’s family alleged she was killed because she refused to convert to Islam and marry the accused.
The family has demanded capital punishment for the accused and asked the state government to give them a security cover.
Vij had announced the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the love jihad angle. “I have asked the SIT to probe this murder not from the day of the incident but from 2018 so that we can reach the root of the the case,” Vij told mediapersons earlier this week.
“I will not allow anyone in the state to go about behaving like rogues and consider our daughters and sisters sitting ducks,” Vij had said.
Meanwhile, protests erupted in Ballabgarh Sunday after a panchayat meeting was called in support of the woman’s family. Following the mahapanchayat, protesters blocked a highway and allegedly attacked police vehicles. The police resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse the crowd.
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UP CM’s love jihad warning
Vij’s statement comes a day after Yogi Adityanath, too, in his speech said his government will bring an effective law against love jihad.
Referring to the Allahabad High Court’s remark that conversion “just for the purpose of marriage” was unacceptable, Yogi Adityanath Saturday said his government was working to bring a strict law to curb incidents of “love jihad”.
Dismissing a petition filed by a couple, the Allahabad High Court had said that conversion “just for the purpose of marriage” is unacceptable.
The court made the remarks after finding that a Muslim woman had converted to Hinduism, and a month later married as per Hindu rituals.
Also read: VHP demands Modi government enact ‘stringent’ law against ‘love jihad’