Policing Interfaith Marriages: Constitutional Infidelity of the Love Jihad Ordinance

Abstract

The Indian Constitution guarantees that individuals have the freedom to choose their partners free from state interference. However, the Uttar Pradesh Vidhi Virudh Dharma Samparivartan Pratishedh Adhyadesh, 2020 (Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Law, 2020) prohibits religious conversion to the extent that it assumes all conversions are illegal, which may have a negative impact on interfaith marriages involving consenting adults. The author argues that the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Ordinance forbidding religious conversion are vague and inadequate for addressing forceful or unlawful conversion for marriages, do not demonstrate any reasonable relation to the object of the legislation, and are constitutionally repugnant. The author concludes that by conferring police powers on state agencies to intervene in interfaith marriages, the Uttar Pradesh Ordinance erodes citizens’ freedom to choose a partner and their individual autonomy, privacy, and personal liberty—rights that are enshrined under India’s constitution.

Keabsahan Perkawinan Beda Agama Ada Di Tangan Hakim?

“…Setelah penetapan dilakukan, Gereja melanjutkan dengan melakukan pemberkatan dan pengesahan status perkawinan pasangan yang telah mendapat persetujuan pengadilan dan perkawinannya dicatat secara resmi di kantor Catatan Sipil. Pernikahan beda agama dalam perspektif Gereja Katolik Perspektif Katolik berpendapat bahwa pernikahan beda agama antara seorang Katolik dan non-Katolik dianggap sebagai persatuan yang tidak menguntungkan, karena dipandang sebagai lembaga sakramental dalam doktrin Katolik (Sonkar, 2022). Perkawinan beda agama dapat diizinkan setelah mendapat dispensasi dari keuskupan atau pentahbisan territorial (Mehta, 2020), sebagaimana dituangkan dalam hukum kanon Katolik 1124.…”

The Fundamental Problems of Implementing Legal Pluralism of Religious in Indonesian Marriage Law and A Proposal to Reform Based on The Pure of Law Theory

“…Until now, many countries still apply religious Law as part of state law. Indonesia is one of those that applies religious Law, in addition to India (Sonkar, 2022), Chile (Rubio, 2009), China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan with the common origin of the Confucian (Raymo et al, 2015), as well as other countries. In multi-religious or multi-race societies, the application of religious Law and racial Law often causes problems related to human rights violations, including in marriage law.…”

Hindu nationalist statecraft, dog-whistle legislation, and the vigilante state in contemporary India

“…Whilst the impact of the population control bill has not yet been felt (as it remains a bill, not an act), in practice, the introduction of love jihad legislation in Uttar Pradesh has legitimised, and even mandated the intrusion of the state and third parties in the choice of who an individual wishes to marry (Vishwanath 2020). In other words, it has enabled the state, via its apparatus of coercive power, to intervene in, and -quite literally -police intimate relations in the private sphere according to the precepts of Hindu nationalism (see also Sonkar 2022). This is evident from how the state police soon after the introduction of the ordinance began targeting interfaith couples, occasionally stopping wedding ceremonies, booking people under the anti-conversion law, and keeping some in judicial custody.…”