On 15 December, the Maharashtra government amended its previous Government Resolution (GR) that initially proposed the formation of the Intercaste/ Interfaith Marriage-Family Coordination Committee.

“Tuesday’s GR of the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department has been amended. This committee is only for interfaith marriages, and not intercaste marriages. The earlier GR was not the correct one,” Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in an interview with The Indian Express.

“The state government is encouraging intercaste marriages and there is also a plan to give financial rewards to those who do it. But cheating in interfaith marriages has increased in the past few years and some aspects have come to light in the Shraddha Walkar murder case,” Fadnavis said.

“It is alarming that there has been an increase in cases of cheating in interfaith marriages in some parts of the state. Therefore, fraud in the name of love jihad has to be stopped,” he said.

As per the new GR, the 13-member Interfaith marriage-family coordination committee (state level) will be headed by Maharashtra’s WCD Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha. While the deputy commissioner in the women and child development department will be the member-secretary of the panel, it said.

A helpline number will also be made available for couples in interfaith marriages, the government order said.

The panel’s scope includes taking stock of interfaith marriages that take place after the elopement of couples or are performed at religious places or are registered or non-registered, the order stated.

If required, counselling service will be made available to women who have entered into interfaith marriages, the order mentions.