25-year-old Muslim gets life term for interfaith marriage, faking identity

A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly has sentenced a 25-year-old man life sentence for coercing a 20-year-old woman to embrace Islam and marrying her by falsely claiming a Hindu identity.
The convict’s father has been handed down a two-year jail term apart from a fine of ₹1 lakh, according to media reports.
The sentences have been awarded according to Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government’s Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Act, that was promulgated two months ago. This is first life sentence as per the amended law since its promulgation.
The victim woman said in her statement before the magistrate that the accused, who was studying with her at a computer coaching institute, introduced himself as Anand Kumar and used to wear a red thread on his right hand, a report in Indian Express said. The woman said that she developed a rapport with the accused and later entered into a relationship.
Last year, the accused also took the woman to a temple where he applied sindoor on her forehead and the two got married, according to the statement.
Later, when the accused took the woman to his native village in Bareilly, she found that the person she married was actually a Muslim and that his real name was Mohammed Aalim Ahmed. There, the family of the accused put pushed her to convert to Islam before a legal marriage as per Islamic traditions which she refused to do, the Indian Express report said.
Ravi Kumar Diwakar, the fast-track court judge, passed the verdict awarding sentence to the accused. He has also sent the copies of verdict to the state police chief, the Chief Secretary and the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Bareilly, directing them that the accused be booked as per provisions of the Unlawful Conversion of Religion law of Uttar Pradesh.
On July 30, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly passed the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024 that enhanced punishment for forced conversions. The punishment for marrying a woman by deceiving her or converting her religion was 10 years with a fine of ₹50,000. The new law enhanced punishment to life imprisonment.