Court orders release of 2 brothers held under anti-conversion law
Moradabad (UP), Dec 19: An Uttar Pradesh court has ordered the release of two brothers who were arrested earlier this month under the anti-conversion law, an official said on Saturday.
The Muslim man and his brother were arrested on December 4 after they visited the registrar's office in Moradabad to record his marriage to a Hindu woman, whose family filed a complaint.
A video purportedly showed Bajrang Dal activists asking the couple if the woman had given notice to the district magistrate over her intention to change her religion, a requirement under the new ordinance.
The Kanth police had submitted a report that it could not find evidence of the case after Pinki denied the allegations of forceful conversion by Rashid and his brother Salim, following which the chief judicial magistrate ordered the release of the two from jail, prosecuting officer Amar Tiwari said.
The jailor of the district jail, Manish, said they had received the releasing order and the two would be be released later in the day.
Meanwhile, the mother-in-law alleged that Pinki suffered miscarriage after she was tortured at the government shelter home.
The recently-promulgated Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance nullifies marriages if they are carried out for the sole purpose of religious conversion. The state government had on November 24 approved the draft ordinance, which provides for a jail term of up to 10 years for violators.
It was promulgated amid assertions by BJP leaders that a strict law was needed against "love jihad", a term coined by right-wing activists to discredit interfaith marriages by describing it as part of an alleged conspiracy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women in the guise of love.
The Allahabad High Court had asked the state government on Friday to respond to a petition challenging the ordinance.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Double-decker electric bus gutted in fire at Kurla BEST depot
Mumbai (PTI): An empty double-decker electric bus was gutted in a fire during servicing at a BEST depot in Mumbai's Kurla area on Sunday, officials said, adding that nobody was injured.
The blaze broke out inside the Kurla BEST bus depot near Kanakia Building at 4.14 pm, according to preliminary information from the Mumbai Fire Brigade.
The parked bus was unoccupied at the time of the incident.
Fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot and brought the blaze under control. The exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, they said.
No injuries were reported in the incident, officials added.
The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking has hired 50 electric double-decker buses from Switch Mobility in its fleet of around 2,700 buses.
