First Two Arrests Made Under UP’s New Law Against ‘Love Jihad’

One more case has been lodged in UP’s Bareilly under the new “love jihad” law.

‘Love jihad’ laws are being planned by several BJP states.

(Illustration: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

Amid a raging controversy over love jihad, two arrests have been made under the new law passed by the UP government against unlawful conversion. Both the arrests were made in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district.

The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, was passed by the state cabinet on 27 November.

21-Year-Old Booked for Forceful Conversion

A 21-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly has become the first person to be booked under the new law passed by the UP government against unlawful conversion.

Owais Ahmad was arrested on Wednesday, 3 December, for allegedly pressuring a Hindu woman to convert to Islam, reported The Indian Express. According to the report, Ahmad also threatened the girl’s parents, after they raised objections over the alleged forceful conversion.

According to a statement issued by the Bareilly police, Ahmad was absconding for the past few days and the police were conducting raids since 28 November – just a day after the UP cabinet passed the ordinance.

In its statement, the police said that an FIR was registered against Ahmad under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 504 for insulting a person and 506 for criminal intimidation as well as Section 3/5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020.

The FIR was lodged on the complaint of one Tikaram Rathore, a resident of Sharifnagar village, reported The Hindu.

According to the woman’s family, the accused abused and threatened them with dire consequences if they opposed his move to convert the woman.

“Ahmad lured our girl and took her away, we later got her back to our home and married her away, but Ahmad would stalk us and threaten us with dire consequences,” the girl’s family told the reporter.

The complainant also stated that the accused and the woman belong to the same village and the incident has disturbed the communal harmony as well, reported Hindustan Times.

The case was lodged at Devraniya police station of Bareilly.

Rajesh Kumar Pandey, DIG, Bareilly told the reporters that the accused allegedly forced religious conversion. The accused has also been booked under 361/2020 (Kidnapping from lawful guardianship).

2nd Case of ‘Love Jihad’ Filed in UP

Yet another case has been lodged in UP’s Bareilly under the new “love jihad” law. The Bareilly police have arrested the accused, who has been identified as Tahir Hussain.

According to the Hindustan Times report, an FIR was filed on Monday, 30 November against a man identified as Tahir Hussain and his brothers, Sagir and Munna under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance.

The police stated that the other three members of Hussain’s family will be interrogated.

According to the FIR, the accused Tahir Hussain was in a relationship with the woman of Hindu religion.

“This doesn’t seem the case of love jihad. The couple knew each other, they wanted to get married, we will investigate the case,” said the Bareilly police officer.

According to the girl’s family the couple got married in a temple and later started living together. When the woman was impregnated in November. Hussain and his brother assaulted her on 20 November, resulting in an abortion.

The girl’s family has alleged that Hussain assaulted her resulting in her miscarriage. An FIR under Indian Penal Code (IPC) 506 and 313 have been lodged against the accused.

The girl further alleged that Hussain approached her on the pretext of being a Hindu. She claims that Hussain had created his Facebook ID under the name of “Kunal Sharma”.

“Hussain used to follow me everywhere, somehow he got my contact number and started calling me, he once entered my home too and threatened my family. When I said that I will lodge a complaint against him, he said that he wants to marry me, we eventually got married in a temple and started living together, I later got pregnant and he asked me to abort the child, I refused to do so.”

Victim girl’s version to the media

The girl further claims that Hussain revealed his real identity much later and asked her to convert into Islam.

“He said that if I want to stay with him, then I have to marry him as a Muslim,” the girl alleged.

The FIR was registered in Izzat Nagar police station and the investigation is underway, reported Hindustan Times.

(With inputs from Indian Express, Hindu, HT)