Maharashtra govt sets up panel to look into inter-faith, inter-caste marriages
Maharashtra state’s Women and Child Development Department Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha will head the state’s ‘Inter-caste/Inter-faith marriage-family coordination committee’.
According to a government resolution issued on Tuesday, the committee will gather information about the inter-caste or inter-faith marriage couples and the maternal families of the women involved if they are estranged.
Fast-tracked after Shraddha case
This decision was taken specifically after Shraddha Walkar’s murder case, where she was murdered allegedly by her live-in partner Aftab Poonawala in Delhi in May this year.
Also read: Shraddha’s father demands death penalty for Aftab, suspects ‘love jihad’
The committee will monitor the district-level initiatives for women involved in such marriages who get estranged from their families, in order to help them.
The committee will also be a platform for women and their families to avail counselling and resolve issues, the resulotion added.
13-member panel
The panel will have 13 members from government and non-government fields to study policies of the state and central government regarding welfare schemes and laws related to the matter, it further included.
Besides, the committee will hold regular meetings with district officials and collect information of registered and unregistered inter-faith and Inter-caste marriages.
Special squad
Last month, minister Lodha had 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.
Notably, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had recently claimed that his government would study laws on freedom of religion, dubbed as legislations on ‘love jihad’.
(With Agency inputs)