Devendra Fadnavis says there appears some kind of design behind love jihad incidents

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said there appeared some kind of design behind the incidents of love jihad.

According to a report of PTI, He was speaking in the Legislative Council while responding to a calling attention motion moved by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Gopichand Padalkar.

Fadnavis, who is also the state Home Minister, told the Upper House of the state legislature, Prima facie, it appears that there is some kind of design behind such (love jihad) incidents. When there have been a large number of rallies by the majority community (on the issue), the government cannot ignore it.

It needs to take cognisance of their demands. Love jihad is a term often used by right-wing activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.

Fadnavis said, I don't have the exact number of cases or complaints related to love jihad, it is a term coined in Kerala. There are certain challenges to formulate a law against it. If religious conversion takes place, Indian Penal Code section 420 (that deals with cheating) is invoked. But the definition of that section is not defined for religious conversion. Therefore we need to make new laws for the same.