Amid public outrage over Shraddha Walkar’s murder case in which her partner belongs to another religion killed and dumped her, the Maharashtra government on Thursday came up with an initiative to track interfaith marriages.
The government formed a 13-member coordination committee headed by a minister to track and maintain record of interfaith marriages, couples who have entered into such wedlocks in the state and also their families.
The “interfaith marriage-family coordination committee (state level)” will be headed by Maharashtra's Women and Child Development Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, said a Government Resolution (GR).
The GR, or government order, was issued by the Women and Child Development Department.
There are 13 members in the committee, including 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, said the GR.
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, said the order.
If required, counselling service will be made available to women who have entered into interfaith marriages, the government order said.
Shraddha Walkar's father met Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis
Shraddha Walkar's father Vikas Walkar on last Friday met Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and demanded 'capital punishment' for Aftab Poonawala, who allegedly killed and then sawed her body into 35 pieces and kept them in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi's Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya also accompanied Vikas Walkar to Fadnavis house.
Also Read: Shraddha Walkar's father meets Fadnavis, seeks 'capital punishment' for Aftab Poonawala
