Inter-faith couples to be monitored in Maharashtra by government appointed committee

The committee will monitor district-level initiatives for women involved in such marriages who may be estranged from their families so that assistance can be provided if necessary, it said.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Lodha said setting up the committee was an attempt of the state government to ensure that the Shraddha Walkar case does not happen again.

“The fact that Walkar’s family was not aware that she had died six months ago is scary… We don’t want to have another Shraddha Walkar and this is the reason why the committee is being set up to ensure women in such marriages are not away from their families,” he said.

Walkar was murdered allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala in Delhi in May this year. Poonawala allegedly strangled Shraddha and cut her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in Mehrauli in south Delhi, before dumping them across the city over several days.

Platform for counselling

The GR said that the committee will be a platform for women and their families to avail counselling and resolve issues.

It added that the panel will have 13 members from the government and non-government fields to study policies of the state and central government regarding welfare schemes and laws related to the matter.

The committee will hold regular meetings with district officials and collect information on registered and unregistered inter-faith and Inter-caste marriages; on such marriages that took place in places of worship and marriages that took place after elopement, it said.

Meanwhile, senior NCP leader and former state minister Jitendra Awhad said in a tweet, “What’s this rubbish of committee to check inter-caste/religion marriages? Who is govt to spy on who marries whom? In liberal Maharashtra this is a retrograde, nauseating step. Which way is progressive Maharashtra heading towards? Stay away from people’s private life.”

आंतरजातीय/धर्मीय लग्नांची मोजदाद करण्याचा सरकारला काय अधिकार आहे? पुरोगामी महाराष्ट्राला २०० वर्षे मागे न्यायचंय काय? कुणाशी विवाह करायचा ही प्रत्येकाची खाजगी बाब आहे. सरकारने हे पाऊल तातडीने मागे घ्यावं.जाती व्यवस्था म्हणजेच चतुरवर्ण व्यवस्था मजबूत करण्यासाठी हे काम चालू आहे pic.twitter.com/GzFYAooeMc

— Dr.Jitendra Awhad (@Awhadspeaks) December 14, 2022

However, Eknath Shinde-led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena spokesman Krishna Hegde welcomed the step.

“Welcome move by Govt of Maharashtra to set up State level committee to study data of Inter-religion and Inter-caste marriages. Proactive steps taken by the Govt in the right direction,” he tweeted.

Last month, minister Lodha asked the State Women’s Commission to set up a special squad to identify women who married without family support and are estranged from them. This decision was taken in view of the Shraddha Walkar murder case.

Also read: Another instance of Mangaluru moral policing

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had recently said that his government would study laws on freedom of religion, dubbed as legislations on “love jihad”, enacted by other states, but had not yet decided on introducing a similar law in the western state.

“Love jihad” is a term often used by right-wing activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.

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