Police in India’s Uttar Pradesh state have arrested a Muslim man over allegations that he tried to convert a Hindu woman to Islam.
His arrest marks the first detention under a controversial new law that makes religious conversion for marriage a crime.
The Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance was passed into law last week in the north Indian state, led by a Hindu monk and politician, Yogi Adityanath.
The legislation is considered to be a response to a Hindu right-wing conspiracy theory that makes unfounded claims of Muslim men maliciously luring Hindu women into relationships to convert them to Islam.
Owais Ahmad, 21, was arrested on Wednesday in Bareilly district of the state after a Hindu woman’s father accused him of “threatening to kidnap and forcefully convert her faith from Hinduism to Islam”.
"The case was registered by Tikaram, the father of the girl who alleged that Owais tried to forcefully convert his daughter by kidnapping and marrying her," Sansar Singh, a senior police officer in Bareily station, told The National.
Mr Ahmad is not eligible for bail and if convicted could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 50,000 rupees ($675).
He and the unidentified woman were in a relationship for several years before they tried to elope nearly three years ago.
The woman’s family found her on the day she disappeared and the pair never married.
They soon after ended their relationship, but the incident sparked police complaints before the woman’s father filed a case under the new law last weekend.
Police said the woman was married to a Hindu man in June.
Her father claimed in his complaint that Mr Ahmad had tried to convert the woman three years ago through “allurement and coercion”.
They are two of several controversial clauses in the law that the converted spouse’s partner must prove did not take place.
Under the law, any marriage deemed to be for the sole purpose of conversion will be “deemed null and void”, unless a prior state sanction has been granted to convert.
The conspiracy theory found its way into public consciousness in recent weeks, mostly from leaders of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and states where it is in power.
Four states ruled by the BJP are considering similar legislation to outlaw marriages in which one spouse converts to another faith before or after the marriage.
They are seemingly under pressure from Hindu groups making unfounded claims that Muslim men are duping unsuspecting Hindu women into marriage with the sole aim of converting them to Islam.
In October this year, a popular jewellery brand withdrew a TV advertisement featuring an interfaith couple celebrating their baby-shower ceremony after facing backlash and even physical attacks from Hindu right-wing groups.
But officially, the term “forced conversions” for marriage is not recognised by the government.
Critics say the new law is aimed at dissuading interfaith marriages and is likely to be used to victimise Muslims and women.
"This law will not stand the test of constitutionality because the constitution allows an adult to choose a partner," Madhu Mehra, a Delhi lawyer and women's rights activist, told The National.
"It is a personal decision even if it is against family approval.
Ms Mehra said the law went against the right to religious freedom which is "an individual and collective right".
Eight Indian states have laws that prohibit religious conversion through pressure or enticement.
This legislation was mainly aimed at stopping the conversion of underprivileged Hindu tribal people by Christian missionaries involved in charity work.
Soon after independence, India tried to pass a similar law nationally but failed to gather parliamentary support.
Some BJP leaders have also made unsuccessful attempts to introduce similar bills to ban any conversion in the officially secular country.
Last month Mr Adityanath issued open threats to Muslim men at a public rally, asking them to respect the dignity of Hindu women or else “prepare for their funeral journey”.
India has a population of 200 million Muslims and interfaith marriages come with strong and often deadly responses from society and police.
Religious laws govern marriages and personal matters in India, forcing couples to convert to the same faith or opt for a Special Marriage Act.
That is tedious, month-long court process that includes declaring the marriage intention and seeking permission from the state.
Last month, Uttar Pradesh’s High Court ruled that an interfaith couple was well within the law to marry and live happily.
The court asked state police to quash the kidnapping case brought against a Muslim man by a Hindu woman’s family after she voluntarily converted to Islam and married him.
The court also overruled a previous order that said conversion for marriage was illegal.
“In giving the right to family members to complain, and by not allowing the woman the right to discharge the burden of proof, this ordinance absolutely undermines a woman's right to choose a spouse,” Ms Mehra said.
“It will, unfortunately, create an environment where couples may avoid legal marriages and enter de facto marriages or unions.
"This will push relationships underground, undermine women's matrimonial rights and ultimately create more ways of harassing and punishing [couples].”
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
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TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
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On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
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RESULT
Esperance de Tunis 1 Guadalajara 1
(Esperance won 6-5 on penalties)
Esperance: Belaili 38’
Guadalajara: Sandoval 5’
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPowertrain%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20electric%20motor%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E201hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E310Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E53kWh%20lithium-ion%20battery%20pack%20(GS%20base%20model)%3B%2070kWh%20battery%20pack%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETouring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E350km%20(GS)%3B%20480km%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C900%20(GS)%3B%20Dh149%2C000%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The five pillars of Islam
MATCH INFO
Liverpool 3
Sadio Man 28'
Andrew Robertson 34'
Diogo Jota 88'
Arsenal 1
Lacazette 25'
Man of the match
Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
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Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
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Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Rating: 2/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Lowest Test scores
26 - New Zealand v England at Auckland, March 1955
30 - South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth, Feb 1896
30 - South Africa v England at Birmingham, June 1924
35 - South Africa v England at Cape Town, April 1899
36 - South Africa v Australia at Melbourne, Feb. 1932
36 - Australia v England at Birmingham, May 1902
36 - India v Australia at Adelaide, Dec. 2020
38 - Ireland v England at Lord's, July 2019
42 - New Zealand v Australia in Wellington, March 1946
42 - Australia v England in Sydney, Feb. 1888
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
