Alarmed with the rising cases of alleged love-jehad in the state and also considering that such incidents many times trigger law and order problems, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked the police officials to take strict measures and curb such crimes.
The harassment of women and love-jehad incidents were recently reported from many districts, including Kanpur, Lakhimpur Kheri and Balrampur. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which has been advocating action against love-jehad for a long time, demanded that a law be enacted to curb the menace.
Seeing the rise in such incidents, Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to chalk out an action plan to prevent such incidents.
In recent days, cases of love-jehad have been reported from Meerut, Kheri and Kanpur Nagar.
According to Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi, the chief minister has asked for instant and strict action against women’s harassment and love-jehad incidents. Meerut, Kanpur Nagar and Lakhimpur Kheri have recently reported cases of girls being trapped on the pretext of falling in love.
Madhuram Mishra, Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Kanpur unit organisational head, says, “The cases of love-jehad are quite old. A gang is active in carrying out such operations. In Kanpur Nagar, Farrukhabad, Jhansi, Etawah, Hamirpur, Lalitpur, Fatehpur and other districts, there have been cases of love-jehad. People are in touch with us. We are raising awareness about it.” Recently, a young girl in Kanpur Nagar had released a video on social media which went viral, saying she would undergo religious conversion on the pretext of consummating the marriage.
After hearing this, activists of Vishwa Hindu Parishad created a ruckus outside Kidwai Nagar police station, accusing a youth of forceful religious conversion. They demanded that the accused be arrested and the girl handed over to them.
Bholendra, the area head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said the love-jehad syndicate was active in every district of Uttar Pradesh.
Each syndicate comprises several agents. The incidents in Lakhimpur and Kanpur Nagar have come to the fore. The poor sections of society, especially villagers, are primarily targeted.
ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said, “The police are working with sensitivity in cases of violence against women. Special attention is being given to inter-faith harmony. Reports of such incidents are being looked into promptly. Each case is treated on its merit.”
