GUWAHATI: The Assam government has drafted a law against ‘Love Jihad’. This was confirmed by Assam cabinet minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma to Republic World.
Speaking to Republic TV, Sarma said that the bill will be enacted after the BJP-led government is re-elected to power in the 2021 Assam Assembly polls.
He mentioned that the Assam government had received several complaints where a boy hides his real identity and religion to lure girls into marriage. Maintaining that marriage is a voluntary engagement between two individuals, the BJP leader made it clear that there should be no element of cheating involved. Weighing in on the contours of the proposed bill, Sarma stated that it will ensure that no person can provide a false identity to get married.
“Marriage is considered one of the holiest acts. It should happen in circumstances where there is no fraud and no cheating. The law will ensure that nobody can provide false identity, false religion and basically, you cannot hide your religious identity to get married even in social media or otherwise. We have drafted a law. We have seen the laws enacted in other states also. But as I told you, we are going into elections now. So, we don’t want to push it otherwise people will say that this is an electoral agenda. But, as and when we come back, definitely we are going to enact it,” Sarma said.
While the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has already approved the ‘Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020’, the Haryana and Madhya Pradesh governments have also announced that they will enact a law against ‘Love Jihad’ soon.
Read more: REPUBLICWORLD.COM
