No existence of ‘Love Jihad’ in UP: Government tells High Court

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday informed the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court that that there is no existence of "Love Jihad" in the state.

The submission came during hearing of a PIL, filed by one Pankaj Tiwari, which sought a ban on word "Love Jihad".

A division bench comprising Justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and Narain Shukla directed the UP government counsel to file reply within two weeks with regard to the PIL.

The Election Commission of India, the UP government, BJP MP Adityanath and Union Minister Kalraj Mishra have been made respondents in the petition.

Petitioner's counsel C B Pandey contended that through the word "Love Jihad", a new type of communality was spreading in the state for polarisation of society and, hence, the use of word should be banned.

On behalf of the state government, Additional Advocate General Bulbul Godiyal informed the court that there was "no existence of Love Jihad" in UP.

The AAG further said a CB-CID probe was underway against Adityanath.

On AAG's request, the court provided two weeks' time to the state to file a counter affidavit.