Love Jihad prevention bill has been passed by the Uttar Pradesh assembly on Tuesday. Now the law will become more strict in the cases of conversion done fraudulently or forcefully in the entire state. 

For the first time, those guilty of harassing a woman living in Uttar Pradesh by converting her into a trap i.e. 'Love Jihad' will be punished with life imprisonment. To prevent serious incidents of illegal conversion, the government has increased the scope of the law and the period of punishment.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna introduced the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in the House on Monday.

It has been proposed that if a person threatens, attacks, marries or promises to marry or conspires for it, or trafficks a woman, minor or anyone with the intention of conversion, then his crime will be placed in the most serious category.

In such a case, the accused will be punished with a minimum of 20 years imprisonment or life imprisonment and fine. The court will be able to fix the amount as a fine for the cost of treatment and rehabilitation of the victim.

Any person can also register an FIR in the case of conversion. Earlier, the arrangement was to register an FIR only on behalf of the person suffering from conversion, his relatives or close relatives.

It has been proposed that such cases will not be heard by any court below the Sessions Court and along with this, the bail plea will not be considered without giving an opportunity to the public prosecutor. Also, all the crimes under the amended Act have been made non-bailable.

Earlier, Samajwadi Party leader Fakhrul Hasan Chand slammed the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government over bringing amendments in existing law regarding 'Love Jihad' and said that the BJP only wants to do negative politics.

In a self-made video, Chand said, "The BJP government, which has brought the ordinance on Love Jihad, already has a law on it. If someone traps someone in his/her love trap with some motive, then there is a law for it but BJP only wants to do negative politics. It does not want to do anything about unemployment and paper leak."

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had taken this initiative with the intention of curbing ‘love jihad’, a term coined by some Hindu outfits for alleged forcible conversion.

(With input from agencies)