Thread by @asadowaisi

THREAD: One can choose to worship
-One god
-1000 gods
-no god
One can reject their faith of birth & adopt a new one.

This is LIBERTY of THOUGHT, EXPRESSION, BELIEF & FAITH that Constitution gives everyone. This Ordinance takes away this liberty & says 'aise kaise?!' [1/n]

https://twitter.com/vijaita/status/1355729297135329283

Before we go on, remember that conversion does not mean that one stops being an Indian citizen or that they become 'lesser' Indians for some reason. This law thinks that freedom of religion is antithetical to India's identity, which'd be funny if it weren't dangerous [2/n]

The Ordinance defines mass conversion as 'two or more people converting', which means if spouses convert together it is a crime. This is a picture of Babasaheb at Deekshabhoomi, leading conversion of a 'mass' from Hinduism to Buddhism. The Ordinance makes this a crime [3/n]

This law creates the concept of a 'convertor' which is an absurd idea. Many people convert to religion by independent study or by learning about other religions. This wrongly presumes that every conversion is a product of some conspiracy. [4/n]

Section 3 also prohibits anyone who "convinces" a person to convert. What if a person says that "I believe in Islam, for these specific reasons" & someone is convinced by these reasons? For anyone who respects independent thinking & free choice this cannot be a crime. [5/n]

Burden of proving that the conversion was ‘lawful’ lies on the person who has ‘caused’ the conversion. It doesn't matter if the person who is converting is saying that s/he did it willingly. Instead, it is assumed that someone has ‘caused’ it. We're adult citizens, not kids [6/n]

Faith is a question of conscience but the Ordinance makes it a public affair. A convert has to apply to Magistrate before converting, who'll conduct an inquiry. One's parents, siblings, cousins, in-laws & even adopted children can complain against conversion. [7/n]

Any member of public can 'object' to my conversion. What right does a random mob have to decide if my belief in God (or lack thereof) is 'lawful'? This is simply going to put people's lives at risk & invite harm upon them [8/n]

So far 79/86 people booked under this law are Muslims. 7 are Christians. 2/86 are minor girls. This law is not only targeting boys but their whole families.
-26 family members of a Muslim man were booked in Etah. The alleged conversion happened a week before the Ordinance [9/n]

Article 20(1) of Constitution prohibits punishing someone for a crime before a law on it was enacted. But UP Police does not care because the accused is a Muslim.
-In Mau, an FIR was lodged against 16 members of a family.
-In Sitapur, 14 family members were booked [10/n]

-A Muslim boy in Bijnor went out for a pizza with girl. The girl has repeatedly said that the boy never brought up conversion, even the father of the girl has clarified but was forced to complain against the boy. He is still in jail. [11/n]

In Kanth, a man had to spend 15 days in jail, his wife was sent to Nari Niketan & suffered a miscarriage due. The girl kept repeating that her conversion & marriage was voluntary but police arrested the boy because of a local Bajrang Dal complaint [12/n]

In two separate incidents, two Muslim women in Bareilly district got married to Hindu men after conversion and were given police security. This is the exact opposite of what happened when the men were Muslim. This is the real purpose of this lie called Love Jihad [13/n]

The Centre told Lok Sabha that no “case of love jihad had been reported by any central agency. Investigations by NIA, Karnataka CID, Kanpur SIT, DGP Kerala have said there's no evidence either. In Hadiya case SC said “parental love or concern cannot be allowed to.....[14/n]

...fluster the right of choice of an adult woman in choosing a man to whom she gets married” Marriage is between 2 people, it's a civil matter. Using criminal law on such issues is wrong. Many have been taken aback by this Ordinance. I'd said this when triple talaq law...[15/n]

...was enacted & I was mocked. Hope this Ordinance removes any blinders that people had on the targeted use of criminal law. My faith or my spouse are my choices. I should be the only one who should've control over it. This Ordinance wants to take over this control [n/n]