AHMEDABAD: Two petitions in the Gujarat high court on Monday challenged the new provisions of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, popularly known as the love jihad law, which has increased the severity in punishment for forcible conversions, especially through marriages.
The petitions were filed by Mujahid Nafees of the Minority Coordination Committee, Gujarat, and Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, objecting to the amendments made to the 2003 Act, which were notified on June 15. The petitioner's advocate requested that bench headed by the chief justice allow urgent circulation of the petition, to which the bench said it would hear the matter in a couple of days. The hearing on the challenge to the constitutional validity of the amendment is likely to take place on July 22.
The state government had passed the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill in the Assembly during the Budget session, and the governor gave his assent to it on May 22. The government came out with the notification for implementation of the law on June 15. Since then, several FIRs have been filed in various police stations of Gujarat under the controversial law. The first FIR was filed at a police station in Vadodara against one Samir Qureshi (26) for allegedly luring a woman of another religion by posing as a Christian on social media in 2019.
The Act has stringent punishment for forcible religious conversion through marriage and attracts imprisonment of 3 to 5 years and up to Rs 2 lakh as fine. If the victim is a minor, a woman, a Dalit or tribal, the offenders may be punished with a jail term of 4 to 7 years and a fine no less than Rs 3 lakh. For an institution or an organization found flouting the law, the person in charge at the time of the offence shall invite a jail term of no less than three years extending up to ten years, according to the Act.
