"Some Kind Of Design Behind 'Love Jihad' Incidents": Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said there appeared some kind of design behind the incidents of 'love jihad'.

He was speaking in the Legislative Council while responding to a calling attention motion moved by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Gopichand Padalkar.

Mr Fadnavis, who is also the state Home Minister, told the Upper House of the state legislature, "Prima facie, it appears that there is some kind of design behind such (love jihad) incidents. When there have been a large number of rallies by the majority community (on the issue), the government cannot ignore it. It needs to take cognisance of their demands."

'Love jihad' is a term often used by right-wing activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.

Devendra Fadnavis said, "I do not have the exact number of cases or complaints related to 'love jihad'. It is a term coined in Kerala." "There are certain challenges to formulate a law against it. If (religious) conversion takes place, Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 420 (that deals with cheating) is invoked. But the definition of that section is not defined for religious conversions. Therefore, we need to make new laws for the same," he said.

In December last year, Mr Fadnavis had said the state government will study laws on 'love jihad' framed by other states and take an appropriate decision. At that time, Mr Fadnavis had told the Assembly that there was a demand for a tough law on 'love jihad'.

The government has set up a committee to gather information on the inter-faith and inter-caste marriage couples and the maternal families of the women involved if they are estranged. The chief of the committee and state minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha had said the move was aimed at avoiding a repeat of the Shraddha Walkar murder case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)