Why are some States opting for laws on freedom of religion for marriage (‘love jihad’)? | The Hindu In Focus podcast

This podcast was recorded a few days ago as a quick explainer on various States planning to enact laws against ‘love jihad’. While the term is a talking point of right-wing Hindu groups, it is not one that has a legal basis and so these laws proposed by these are being framed as legislations on freedom of religion and all of them want to ban conversion for the sole purpose of marriage. In the preceding weeks, the State governments of U.P. Haryana and Karnataka, all led by the BJP, announced intentions to enact such laws and just today, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh said the BJP government was planning a law that would invite five years’ imprisonment for ‘love jihad’.

There is a Special Marriage Act in India, enacted in the year 1954 to facilitate the marriage of couples professing different faiths and preferring a civil wedding. However, a lot of practical problems arise in registering such marriages and so many couples settle for marriage under the personal law of one of them, with the other opting for religious conversion. And this is where the political angles come into play. What are some of the problems with the 1954 Act? What are some legal provisions, already enacted in some States, against conversion for the sake of marriage, that these BJP-ruled States may now seek to borrow from?

Guest: K. Venkataramanan, Associate Editor, The Hindu.

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