BHOPAL: The BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh has become the second saffron party ruled state in the country to have an anti-'Love Jihad' law passed through an ordinance.
The state cabinet meeting chaired by CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan passed the MP Dharma Swatantreya 2020 (MP Freedom of Religion) ordinance on Tuesday.
Some other ordinances, including the state's supplementary budget and other bills which couldn't be passed due to postponement of the Vidhan Sabha's winter session on Monday, were also passed through the ordinance route by the state cabinet on Tuesday, state's home minister Dr Narottam Mishra informed.
The ordinance passed by the state cabinet on Tuesday will now be sent for Governor Anandiben Patel's nod to become an executable law for the next six months.
The new law which will replace the 1968 law of the same name has proposed punishment ranging between one year and ten years and fine up to Rs one lakh for forcible/fraudulent religious conversion, including marrying just for religious conversion.
Last month Yogi Adityanath-led UP government too had enacted a similar law through the ordinance route.