To check ‘love jihad’, marriage registrars and other institutions responsible for solemnising marriages in Madhya Pradesh may soon have get police pre-verification of the applicant couples, said State Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Thursday.
Talking to journalists, Mr. Mishra said the Marriage Registrar Bureau and other institutions involved in the registration process, including the notary, receive information about the bride and the groom one month prior [to the date of wedding], and discuss it with the police. They should consider getting police verification done.
‘Love jihad’ is a term used to describe alleged efforts by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam post marriage. “We are serious towards ‘love jihad’ and therefore the government is thinking seriously that the marriage registrars and organisations like Arya Samaj get mandatory police verification [of the couple] done. Decision will be soon taken in this regard,” he said in a statement.
Highlighting one such alleged case from Bhopal that came to light on Wednesday, the Home Minister said police verification will give the girls “double protection”.
“MP Religious Freedom Act [2021] is already in implementation in the State for the purpose. By getting police verification done, marriages where actual identity is hidden could be prevented before registration. Police verification does not mean that the ‘love jihad’ law is not effective, but we want double protection. Therefore the proposal is being mulled seriously so that in future no Shraddha [Walkar, the victim in the infamous Delhi murder case] has to lose her life and incidents like chopping of her body could be prevented,” the Minister said.
Claiming that the existing law was effective in bringing down the number of such cases, he said that last year, when the Act was implemented, 65 cases of ‘love-jihad’ were registered and in 2022, 49 cases had been registered till date.
