Lawfully yours: By Retd Justice K Chandru

Q: Inter-faith offspring must enjoy all legal rights, including succession

Now, the Maharashtra government also has jumped onto the bandwagon of states clamouring for laws against ‘love jihad’. Most often, the bogey of ‘love jihad’ is divisive and built on fake news. In some instances, they are even found to be designed to foster hatred and suspicion between religious communities. We have seen the aftermath of ‘love jihad’ cases in communally-sensitive areas. Is there a way out to ensure that private lives do not end up as political tools? Is there a way out to delink inter-religious marriages from forced conversions?

— Latha, Tiruchy

*.The term ‘love jihad’ itself was coined based on hatred. It is though now used for inter-religious marriages, the so-called “honour killing” is being practised in inter-caste marriages.

The caste organisations and religious bigots who spread venom must be banned. More than that inter-faith marriages should be made simple and the offspring from them must be made entitled to all legal rights including succession.

The legal age of marriage for women must be brought back to 18 years and the present enhancement to 21 is meaningless. A special law to punish those who indulge in violence or hatred needs to be brought in.

Q: Can’t mask Aadhaar number and produce rest for proof of address

Clients are being told by the banks and private sector companies accepting fixed deposits to furnish photos and proof of residence as a measure of revalidation of Know Your Customer. Most of the banks ask the clients to furnish any one of the IDs such as Aadhaar, voter ID, driving licence, etc. In this regard, can one furnish the masked Aadhaar, which means masking the Aadhaar Number? As it will provide the requisite details such as the name, date of birth, and address, why this should not be accepted? Even where the Aadhaar is sought, the masked Aadhaar should be accepted. Your advice, please. — VS Jayaraman, Motilal Street, Chennai

*.As long as an Aadhaar card is not prescribed as the sole customer identification, you need not worry about KYC. Even if you produce a passport, that has more information about you than your Aadhaar. Further, you can’t hide the Aadhaar number and produce the rest for proof of address. Instead, you can produce other address proofs.