A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district has ordered the release of two men arrested under the new anti-conversion law because the police did not find evidence against them, The Times of India reported on Friday.
A Muslim man named Rashid Ali and his brother were arrested on December 4 after they went to the registrar’s office to make a record of the former’s marriage to a Hindu woman. Members of the right-wing group Bajrang Dal, who reached the marriage registration office and accosted the couple, had handed them over to the police.
His pregnant wife, identified as Pinki, was sent to a shelter home in Moradabad district. An ultrasound examination confirmed that she had a miscarriage, according to The Times of India.
On December 13, officials had denied that the woman suffered a miscarriage. The 22-year-old woman had alleged that she had a miscarriage after a district hospital gave her injections to abort the baby. She was admitted to the hospital for abdominal pain and bleeding.
The hospital’s Chief Medical Superintendent Nirmala Pathak told the Times of India that the woman’s ultrasound report, which came from a private lab, showed that the foetus was visible but there was no heartbeat.
Dr RP Mishra, who performed the woman’s ultrasound scan, said: “We were doubtful about the baby when the first ultrasound was performed. The heartbeat was not found. For the second test, we used a doppler ultrasound but the heartbeat couldn’t be found then either. For confirmation, I asked for a trans vaginal scan because sometimes there are chances that the baby survives.”
Assistant Superintendent of Police (Rural) Vidya Sagar Mishra, meanwhile, said that the woman’s husband and brother-in-law would be released on personal bonds of Rs 50,000. As of Friday evening, the release order had not reached the police.
Also read: ‘Love jihad’: UP officials deny 22-year-old Hindu woman suffered miscarriage in protection home
The woman was sent to her in-laws’ home. “I have not been able to speak to him [her husband] after losing the baby,” she told the newspaper. “We love each other. What is the point of court-registered marriages if things like these happen to people in love?”
“Love jihad” is a conspiracy theory used by right-wing groups who accuse Muslim men of using marriage as a lure to force Hindu women to convert to Islam.
The ordinance against unlawful conversions was promulgated by Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel on November 28, days after it was passed by the Adityanath-led state Cabinet. Hours later, the police registered their first case against a Muslim man in the state’s Bareilly district. Ever since the law came into force, the Adityanath government has launched a crackdown on interfaith marriages in the state, arresting a spate of Muslim men.
Apart from Uttar Pradesh, four other BJP-ruled states – Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana and Assam – have also decided to introduce laws aimed at preventing inter-faith marriage. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra had announced last month that the government will table a bill to check forced conversions in the state Assembly during the upcoming session.
The Centre itself told the Lok Sabha in February that no “case of ‘love jihad’ had been reported by any of the central agencies”. Investigations by the National Investigation Agency and the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department have turned up no evidence for this alleged conspiracy either. The National Commission for Women maintains no data about “love jihad” too.
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