Recent attempts by some states to enact laws criminalising 'love jihad' are misguided. As more and more states enact laws against love jihad, the fact is that they are mainly targeting consensual inter-religious relationships between adults and thus infringing on fundamental rights.
The Special Marriage Act, 1954, is a secular law that allows women and men to marry irrespective of their individual religions and conversion is not a condition for it. Under Section 366 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, kidnapping or abduction women for compelling marriage are penalised.
The states laws against Love Jihad is about misplaced anxieties about demographic increase and vilifying a community for electoral needs. The right of a major individual to marry the person of their choice is a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution of India and the liberty relating to the personal relationship of two individuals cannot be encroached by anybody irrespective of caste or religion.
KG VILOP, Chorao
