After Uttar Pradesh and Haryana announced their intent to formulate a law against ‘love jihad’, BJP-ruled Karnataka also seems inclined to bring in a law to combat Hindu women being drawn into relationships with Muslim men and forced to convert.
“Let us see what UP and Haryana governments will do. We’ll study their laws before adopting it,’’ home minister Basavaraj Bommai told TOI on Monday. He said they need to first study the legal tenability of such a legislation.
‘Need to address love jihad from social perspective’
The government has taken serious note of recent incidents of communal tension over religious conversions in the coastal districts of Dakhina Kannada and Udupi as well as other districts, he said.
“Existing laws such as The Hindu Marriage Act are effective to curb criminal acts of using marriage for religious conversion. While leveraging them to initiate action on culprits is one option, exploring an exclusive law to prevent ‘love jihad’ is another. It’s yet to be discussed at the government level,” said Bommai.
Deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan said his government wants to be careful, considering the legal challenges involved.
“We must ensure that laws are within the constitutional framework. Laws are prone to be challenged if they don’t have legal tenability. We need to address ‘love jihad’ from a social perspective rather than curb it through legislation. Our government wants to go slow and take measured steps,” said Narayan.
In January this year, a 18-year-old girl from Kasaragod in Kerala had submitted a complaint to then Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao alleging ‘love jihad’ on the coast of Karnataka and Kerala.
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