UP’s new law to be based on my report: Justice Mittal

In the 268-page report, Justice Mittal had cited various rulings of the SC against conversions and even a case in which the Allahabad high court had set-aside an interfaith marriage on charges of conversion.

LUCKNOW: State law commission chairman Justice AN Mittal’s report and a draft bill on ‘Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion’ are likely to play an important role in the framing of the proposed new law against love jihad by the Uttar Pradesh government. Justice Mittal is also a former judge of the Allahabad high court.

Justice Mittal had submitted the report and the draft bill to chief minister Yogi Adityanath in November last year.

Recently, the Allahabad high court had ruled that conversion only for marriage was not valid while hearing a case related with inter-faith marriage.

In the 268-page report, Justice Mittal cited various rulings of the Supreme Court against conversions and even a case in which the Allahabad high court had set-aside an inter-faith marriage on charges of conversion. “I had submitted a draft report on ‘Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion’ to the chief minister in November last. It will be used by the state government in framing a new law against love jihad,” said Justice Mittal.

“It will be an integral part of the new law. Even the Madhya Pradesh government had used my report while preparing a new law against love jihad,” he added.

On October 31, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had said his government would introduce a stringent law to prevent instances of love jihad in the state. The government has already directed the home and law departments to frame the law.

Love jihad, a term coined by the BJP-VHP, refers to Muslim men enticing gullible non-Muslim women.

“In my report, I have also cited a ruling of the Allahabad high court in which it had set aside an inter-faith marriage and conversion, when it came to know that the conversion was only for marriage,” Justice Mittal said.

Justice Mittal had used reports from newspapers, observations of various high courts across the country and Supreme Court to prepare his report.

According to officials of the law department, the new law will prevent conversion either directly or otherwise through forcible, fraudulent, allurement, inducement or any other means.

The states that already have an anti-conversion law are Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Odisha was the first state to enact an anti-conversion law in 1967 followed by Madhya Pradesh.

Despite having an anti-conversion law, the Madhya Pradesh government has brought a new law with more stringent provisions to check conversion.

Recently, the Uttar Pradesh government had ordered a Special Investigation Team probe into alleged cases of love jihad in Kanpur.

THE STATES THAT ALREADY HAVE AN ANTI-CONVERSION LAW ARE ODISHA, MP, GUJARAT, JHARKHAND, AP, CHHATTISGARH, HP AND UTTARAKHAND.