Bareilly: The police of Uttar Pradesh made its first arrest under the new law, 'Love Jihad.' A Muslim man, identified as one Owais Ahmad was arrested and sent to 14-day judicial custody by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
A man named Tikaram filed an FIR against Ahmad for allegedly harassing his daughter to change her religion from Hinduism to Islam.
'Love Jihad' is a term used especially by BJP leaders, who alleges that a Muslim man marries a non-muslim woman just to convert her religion.
The case against Ahmad was registered at the Devarniya police station in Bareilly. The case was registered under the sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the new anti-conversion law.
The Bareilly Police shared the information through Twitter and confirmed the arrest.
Both, Tikaram's daughter and Ahmad were residents of Sharif Nagar village in Devarniya of Bareilly district. They studied together in Class 12.
Tikaram mentioned that three years ago, Ahmad started pressuring his daughter to perform 'nikah' with him. However, in June, Tikaram's daughter married someone else. Sadly, the accused continued harassing her.
Ahmad was arrested five days after the new 'Love Jihad' ordinance was promulgated. Many critics have slammed the ordinance as Islamophobic.
Anandiben Patel, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh gave his assent to the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 on November 28. This was done to 'curb' forcible religious conversions.
Under this new law, if anyone is found guilty, they will be imprisoned for 10 years and Rs 50,000 will be fined under various sections.
A few other BJP-led states are also in the way to bring laws against 'Love Jihad.'