Maharashtra government forms panel to draft 'love jihad' law: Reports
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has constituted a seven-member committee to draft a law against ‘love jihad,’ as per reports. The panel, headed by Director General of Police (DGP) Rashmi Shukla, will examine legal and technical aspects related to alleged cases of forced religious conversions and interfaith relationships.
The decision follows similar laws enacted in states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The committee includes officials from the women and child development, minority development, law and judiciary, social justice, special assistance, and home affairs departments.
According to a government resolution, the panel will assess the current situation, review legal frameworks in other states, and suggest legal provisions for Maharashtra. The resolution also states that public representatives, social organisations, and citizens have submitted complaints demanding legal measures against 'love jihad' and fraudulent conversions.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Fadnavis has been vocal about the need for such a law, claiming that over one lakh complaints of forced conversions have been received. He has alleged that a conspiracy is at play, where Hindu women are being deceived into marriages by Muslim men using fake identities.
The move has sparked debate, with supporters arguing that it will protect women from coercion, while critics view it as an attempt to police interfaith relationships and target specific communities. Similar laws in other states have faced legal and social scrutiny over concerns of misuse and infringement on individual freedoms.
The committee has not been given a specific timeline to submit its report, but its findings and recommendations will determine the state’s course of action.
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Over 17,000 people went missing in Delhi in 2024: NCRB
New Delhi (PTI): A total of 23,058 people, comprising 9,482 men and 13,576 women, were reported missing in Delhi in 2024, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Of the total, 5,491 were children below the age of 18 — 1,571 boys, 3,920 girls.
The city recorded 17,567 fresh adult missing persons cases in 2024, comprising 7,911 men and 9,656 women.
According to the NCRB data, released on Wednesday, 14,637 men, 18,238 women and six transgender persons were still missing from previous years.
At the latest count, in 2024, Delhi had a total of 55,939 missing persons cases — 24,119 men, 31,814 women and six transgender persons.
In 2024, police traced or collected 28,392 missing persons, including 12,182 men, 16,208 women and two transgender persons.
Only half of the men and half of the women who went missing could be traced.
A total of 27,547 missing persons – 11,937 men, 15,606 women, four transgender persons — were yet to be untraced by the end of the year, the data showed.
The data also revealed that 5,352 children from previous years remained untraced at the beginning of 2024.
The number of still missing boys was 1,621, and the number of missing girls was 3,729. Two transgender children were yet to be found.
After adding the pending cases from previous years, the total number of missing children cases handled in 2024 rose to 10,843.
The police traced or recovered 6,762 missing children — 2,030 boys, 4,732 girls.
The recovery rate stood at 63.6 per cent for boys and 61.9 per cent for girls, while no transgender child was traced.
By the end of 2024, a total of 4,081 children remained untraced, 1,162 of them boys, 2,917 girls, and two transgender children.
