Thaindian News

Ludhiana (Punjab), Dec 10 (IANS) The chief cleric of Ludhiana’s main mosque has issued a ‘fatwa’ (religious edict) against former Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan for embracing Islam to illegally marry for the second time and said he should be jailed.The ‘fatwa’ has been issued against Chand Mohammed, the new name that Chander Mohan acquired after converting to Islam, Muslim religious leaders said here Wednesday.

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.

The couple, missing for nearly 45 days, were secretly married in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh last month after converting to Islam.

Chander Mohan was sacked as deputy chief minister of Haryana Sunday, hours after he publicly announced his second marriage to Bali. The Haryana government maintained that he was dropped from the Bhupinder Singh Hooda ministry because he was “absent” from office for about 50 days and was “neglecting” work.

Bali, a lawyer, was removed as Haryana’s assistant advocate general earlier this month after her relationship with the deputy chief minister became open in political circles here.

Chander Mohan was Monday publicly disowned by his father and former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, who said it was a “shameful act”. Lal also asked his son not to enter the family house.

Chander Mohan was earlier married to Seema Bishnoi and has two children from his first mariage. His teenaged son died in March this year.