NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Theme : Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters
GS - 2
The Maharashtra government has decided to limit the mandate of the recently constituted Intercaste/Interfaith Marriage-Family Coordination Committee (state level) to gathering information on interfaith marriages.
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Context
- Inter Caste/Interfaith Marriage- Family Coordination Committee
- Right to Marriage
- Love Jihad
- What is the Initiative?
- Concerns
Context : The Maharashtra government has decided to limit the mandate of the recently constituted Intercaste/Interfaith Marriage-Family Coordination Committee (state level) to gathering information on interfaith marriages.
Inter Caste/Interfaith Marriage- Family Coordination Committee :
- Work under Women and child development: The renamed Interfaith Marriage-Family Coordination Committee will be under the state Women and Child Development Ministry.
- Will Track frauds: The committee besides providing support and rehabilitation, when necessary, ostensibly track fraud committed in the name of love jihad.
- Development comes after Walker case: The development came after the Shraddha Walkar case came to light in November. Walkar, 26, was murdered by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawalla in May, 2022
- Other states with anti-conversion legislation: With states such as Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand already having brought in anti-conversion legislation.
Right to Marriage :
- Comes under Right to life: The right to marry is a part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
- As an integral part of Right to Life: Various courts across the country have also interpreted the right to marry as an integral part of the right to life under Article 21.
- Stated under Human rights Charter: The right to marriage is also stated under Human Rights Charter within the meaning of the right to start a family.
- Universal right: The right to marry is a universal right and it is available to everyone irrespective of their gender.
- Forced marriage is illegal: A forced marriage is illegal in different personal laws on marriage in India, with the right to marry recognized under the Hindu laws as well as Muslim laws.
Love Jihad :
- “Love jihad” is a term often used by activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
What is the Initiative?
- Will collect and keep details of interfaith marriages and ensure communication: This initiative will provide a platform for the women in intercaste/interfaith marriages and their families to access counseling, and communicate or resolve issues.
- Committee will hold regular meetings: The committee has been assigned to hold meetings with district officials, and review work on seven parameters, including, gathering information about interfaith or inter-caste marriages from stamp duty and registrar offices, and collecting information on such registered or unregistered marriages, among others.
Concerns :
- Control over the lives of individual citizens: Such vigilance remains yet another indication of the State’s disproportionately burgeoning and utterly unacceptable interest in, and demand for, control over the lives of individual citizens.
- Denial of women’s own choice: It is not just violative of one’s rights of freedom and equality, it also reeks of misogyny in its steadfast denial of a woman’s choice of partner as her own free will and not an act of coercion.
- Committee can be armed: There is the IPC for all genuine complaints so the committee could be weaponized.
FAQs :
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What is “Love Jihad” ?
ANS. “Love jihad” is a term often used by activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
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Under which Ministry will the Committee work ?
ANS. The renamed Interfaith Marriage-Family Coordination Committee will be under the state Women and Child Development Ministry