Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Now There's a Kind of Scandal That We Don't Get Much of in the U.S.:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_12_14-2008_12_20.shtml#1229549407
The [1]Times of India reports:
Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan, who mysteriously
disappeared from public view over a month ago, was on Sunday sacked
from the post ....
His removal has come shortly after media reports that he had
converted to Islam and married a woman, who was a former Deputy
Advocate General in Punjab. The woman has also reportedly converted
to Islam....
Mohan, who is already married and has two children, surfaced on
Sunday with a woman. They told a private news channel that they
embraced Islam and entered into wedlock recently....
An Indian Muslim cleric has issued a religious edict [2]condemning the
marriage:
Habib-ur-Rehman, shahi imam of the Jama Masjid at Fieldganj here,
said the marriage of Chand Mohammed to Fiza (earlier Anuradha Bali)
was a �fraud�.
�He has done a wrong thing and this will not be accepted in Islam.
No one can convert to Islam just to get married. The fatwa has been
issued to caution Muslims against having anything to do with him.
He should be socially boycotted,� Rehman said here.
Rehman said Chander Mohan should be booked by the Haryana
government for his illegal marriage and put behind bars....
But love, Mohan [3]asserts, will conquer all:
But the love-struck Mohan appeared unruffled by the sacking.
�Positions just come and go. I am a man of commitment and am very
much part of the Congress party. It's for the high command to
decide what role is to be assigned to me,� he told a news
conference in the state capital, Chandigarh.
�People will accept my love. Don't they in the movies? Reel and
real (life) are no different,� he said.
Apparently, this behavior is [4]not unheard of: "Hindu men, and even
women, usually resort to conversion for remarriage to try and get away
from messy divorces and to evade the charge of bigamy, an offence
under the Hindu Marriage Act."
Thanks to [5]Religion Clause for the pointer.
References
1.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Haryana_Deputy_CM_Chander_Mohan_sacked/rssarticleshow/3805241.cms
2.
http://www.twocircles.net/2008dec10/ludhiana_imam_issues_fatwa_against_chander_mohan.html
3.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/14311-sacked-over-conversion-of-convenience
4.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/14311-sacked-over-conversion-of-convenience
5. http://religionclause.blogspot.com/
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