Lucknow: Families give consent but cops stop interfaith wedding, cite anti-conversion ordinance

The police intervened on the day of the wedding, despite consent of the families of the Hindu bride and Muslim bridegroom to it.

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Picture used for representational purpose

POLICE STOPPED an interfaith wedding in Lucknow, citing the newly passed Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, after receiving complaints from Hindu outfits. The police intervened on the day of the wedding, despite consent of the families of the Hindu bride and Muslim bridegroom to it.

The wedding was to take place in Lucknow’s Duda Colony on Wednesday. As final preparations were on, a team from Para Police Station – which has Duda Colony under its jurisdiction – reached the spot and asked the couple to first seek clearance from Lucknow District Magistrate before going ahead.

The wedding was to be held according to Hindu rituals, according to police officers. Para Police Station SHO Triloki Singh said families of the 22-year-old bride and the 24-year-old bridegroom have agreed to wait for approval from the District Magistrate for the marriage.

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“The family of the girl is Hindu, while the boy’s family is Muslim. Both of them were getting married with each other’s consent and there was no coercion of any type,” Singh said. “Some representatives of Rashtriya Yuva Vahini objected to the wedding and we stopped the wedding and told them that under the new conversion law, you can only get married if you have notified the District Magistrate for the specified period of time. We told them that it should not seem that there is pressure to convert.”

Asked if either the bride or groom intended to convert, the SHO said, “That may have been later, but the couple told us that they wanted to get married. The Muslim youth wanted to become Hindu and get married. They were getting married according to Hindu rituals.”

Lucknow DCP (south) Ravi Kumar said the families of the couple were handed over a copy of the anti-conversion ordinance, and told under which sections they can’t get married till they get the District Magistrate’s permission.
“The families were made aware of the provisions in the presence of their lawyers. They have given in writing that they will seek permission from the District Magistrate and then go ahead with the wedding,” said Kumar.

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A police officer said that when they reached the wedding venue, preparations had begun for the Hindu ceremony.

Asad Rehman

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More

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