Amid the ongoing by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, reports are being disseminated through the local media that the Yogi Adityanath led Uttar Pradesh’s BJP government is taking love jihad cases seriously and are prosecuting the accused found involved in attracting Hindu girls in the name of love and converting their religion.
It is said that a local court in Amroha has awarded a punishment to an accused in a similar case. According to ADG Law and Order Prashant Kumar instructions have been issued to adopt efficacious approach in other cases as well.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance was passed in the year 2020 to deal with the cases of unlawful conversion of religion mainly aimed at Muslim community. It is this ordinance that paved the way for the prosecution of youths presumably from one particular community having or forging a relationship with girls of Hindu community in Uttar Pradesh.
It is learnt that prosecution has been done in over 268 such cases so far under the ordinance. Bareilly zone tops the list with 57 prosecutions followed by Meerut zone with 49 cases. Apart from this, 10 cases in Lucknow Commissionerate, 8 in Goutambudh Nagar Commissionerate, 12 in Kanpur Commissionerate, 11 in Agra Zone, 4 in Kanpur Zone, 24 in Lucknow Zone, 31 in Prayagraj Zone, 37 in Gorakhpur Zone and 25 in Varanasi Zone has been registered.
By the month of September 2000, a total number of 709 accused were framed under the law while noose of 131 persons were tightened during the investigation. Though the police took a total number of 454 accused into custody under the law, the local media is pointing fingers at 840 people.
It is also learned that 42 accused have surrendered themselves in the court while the police are on the lookout for 153 others. Interestingly, the local media said, around 145 people were framed as accused in different cases who were later found innocent while 57 of them were found minor.
According to the police officials, victims in 137 cases made a deposition in the court and their cases are being pursued efficiently. So far, char sheets have been filed in 176 cases by the police while in another 27 cases, the final report has been placed before the court. Out of the overall cases, one was dismissed while deliberations are in progress in another 64 cases.
