The Lucknow police on Wednesday, 2 December, objected to an interfaith wedding and stopped the couple from proceeding with the ceremony, citing the new Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Ordinance, 2020.
The police had received a complaint from Hindu Mahasabha's district president Brijesh Shukla, reported The Indian Express.
The police officials claimed that it was a case of religious conversion for which due procedure had to be followed in consonance with the newly passed law, reported The New Indian Express.
The Hindu bride and the Muslim groom were set to marry after taking consent from their families. The wedding ceremony was supposed to take place at Lucknow’s Duda colony.
Officials from Para police station reached the spot and asked the couple to seek clearance from Lucknow District Magistrate right before the final ceremony, reported the daily.
No case has been lodged against anyone, as the families of both bride and groom agreed to seek permission from the Lucknow DM.
“The families were asked to stop the proceedings, citing the requirement for such a marriage to be solemnised under recently promulgated Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020,”New Indian Express quoted Triloki Singh, station house officer, Para police station as saying
According to the SHO, the couple was getting married as per the Hindu rituals, and there was no forced religious conversion for marriage.
The additional deputy commissioner claimed that the marriage was stopped on the basis of Section 3 and Section 8 (Clause 2 ) of the ordinance which stated that no person shall convert or attempt to convert directly or otherwise any person from one religion to another by use or any practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage, nor should any person abet, convince or conspire such conversion, The New Indian Express reported.
(With inputs from The New Indian Express and The Indian Express)
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