Need to bring law to stop 'love jihad', says Goa CM
PORVORIM: Goa CM Pramod Sawant said in the assembly on Monday that it was time the state also brought in anti-conversion laws like
Uttar Pradesh
to curb cases of '
love jihad
'.
The chief minister said many cases of love jihad were reported earlier in Goa too, and he would release the numbers soon.
"We need to bring in the anti-conversion law, and all of you from Congress need to support it," Sawant said after opposition criticised state govt over Goa Police's inability to track an accused woman, Ayesha, who was recently arrested by UP Police in an anti-conversion case.
Sawant's statement was, however, opposed by Goa Forward Party's Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, who said the CM was trying to push his party's national agenda in Goa.
"There are no cases of love jihad in Goa. He should give the number of such cases. We are diverting from the issue of a transnational network, which also saw activities from Goa. No Goans live in Aldeia de Goa (a gated complex where accused Ayesha's parents rented a flat) and nobody knows what the residents there are up to," Sardesai said.
Sawant said the anti-conversion law would only be applicable in cases of forced conversions and would not interfere with consensual inter-religious marriages. "Conversion should not take place by offering lures like money, etc.," he added. tnn
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