Two years after ‘love jihad’ law, Uttarakhand books four

DEHRADUN: For the first time since the anti-conversion law was brought into force in Uttarakhand two years ago, four persons in Dehradun have been booked for violating its norms — a Muslim man, the Hindu woman he had married, his uncle and the qazi who solemnised their wedding.
The man, Sameer Ali, 22, had met the 20-year-old woman from Rudraprayag at a coaching class in Dehradun. “After a year of courtship, they got married on September 28 this year.She converted and took on a new name. The same day, the qazi performed their nikah in the presence of Sameer’s uncle, Shaukeen,” a police official said.
The Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 stipulates that a month’s notice must be served when a person decides to convert — both from the applicant and the religious priest who conducts the conversion. Sameer had approached the Uttarakhand high court a month before their wedding, August 28, seeking protection for himself and his wife. The high court ordered an investigation by the Dehradun district magistrate (DM) and that report reached the police, through the DM, in November. Police conducted their own preliminary investigation and said they found two violations — the DM had not been given a month’s notice and the woman’s parents were not informed.
“Prima facie, it was found that they violated provisions under the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018. Following that, an FIR was registered at Patel Nagar police station on Tuesday and a detailed investigation has begun,” Dehradun circle officer Anuj Kumar told TOI.
The four have been booked under sections 3 (conversion by misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion, allurement or marriage), 8 (one month’s declaration of intent to convert) and 12 (parties to the offence) of the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018. They are all in Dehradun now, police said. They had not been arrested till the time of filing this report. The accused face up to seven years in prison and if convicted, their marriage would be annulled.