For the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the issue of ‘love jihad’ has been one of the central planks of the party’s campaign in Karnataka ahead of the state assembly elections slated for May 10. Although the saffron party has failed to provide any official definition of what constitutes ‘Love Jihad’, in January early this year, it pressed leaders to prioritise the issue over ‘infrastructure’ and ‘development’ in the poll-bound state.
Largely spread and preached by the Hindu-right wing groups, the term ‘Love Jihad’ refers to the idea that Muslim men allegedly ‘lure and trap’ women from other faith into marrying them forcing them to convert to Islam. In the past few years, the bogey idea of ‘Love Jihad’ has spread like a wildfire across BJP-ruled states of India with several cases being reported without any centralised law to regulate it. Individual states have made their existing conversion laws more stringent to prevent cases of alleged ‘Love Jihad’.
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Recently, the Maharashtra assembly witnessed heated exchanges over Women and Child Development Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha’s statement in the House that there have been over 1 lakh “love jihad” cases in the state. However, on February 4 2020, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Krishna Reddy told the Parliament that no case of ‘love jihad’ “has been reported by any of the central agencies.”
While most central agencies have drawn blank on cases of Love Jihad, we look at a few of the most prominent cases that have been alleged and reported in the recent past:
Shraddha Walkar, Delhi(2022)
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In the gruesome murder case of 27-year-old Shraddha Walkar in Delhi by her live-in partner Aftab Poonawala, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asserted that "love jihad" is a "reality" and has been established by the grisly murder. In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Sarma said, “There is evidence of love jihad (in the Walkar case)... even in Aaftab's polygraph test, it is said that he revealed that his actions will take him to jannat (heaven). There are reports on it.”
VHP releases list of 400 ‘love Jihad’ cases (2022)
In December 2022, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) released a list of 400 alleged ‘love jihad cases’, renewing their demand for a central law that would prevent instances of Muslim men marrying non-Muslim girls with the sole aim of religious conversion. Terming ‘Love Jihad’ as the most heinous crime, VHP Joint Secretary Surendra Jain remarked, “There is a strong need for a strict central law to prevent love jihad and illegal conversions, which create social discontent and threats to national security.”
The demand had come in the wake of the Shraddha Walkar murder case.
Actor Tunisha Sharma’s death, Maharashtra (2022)
In December last year, BJP MLA from Maharashtra, Atul Bhatkhalkar demanded that a probe be conducted from "love jihad" angle into the case of actor Tunisha Sharma's death, in which her co-star Sheezan Khan has been arrested.
The demand came days after Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Girish Mahajan alleged the death of Sharma was a matter of "love jihad" and that the state was planning to bring a strict law to curb such incidents.
"The police should probe the matter from the angle of love jihad," Bhatkhalkar told PTI in the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Nagpur where the winter session of the state legislature. Khan (27) was arrested eventually on the charge of abetting her suicide. Sharma's mother had alleged Khan had cheated and "used" her daughter for three to four months.
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Kerala couple wins Love Jihad case (2022)
In April 2022, Joisna Mary Joseph and Shejin could finally come out victorious in a case of ‘Love Jiad’ row in Kerala after the Kerala High Court dismissed the petition filed by Joisna's father against her marriage with a Muslim man named Shejin. Earlier, a CPIM leader from Kozhikode district had supported the allegation of Joisna's father that the interfaith marriage was part of love jihad.
"I married the person I loved. So I wanted to go with him. I liked him and started living with him. I told the court about my decision. It is a decision made by a person over 18 years of age. We will both talk to our parents. We will convince them," Joisna told ANI. Joisna's husband Shejin said he has no problem with Joisna living as a Christian until her death.
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First case of Love Jihad In Madhya Pradesh (2021)
In January 2021, police in Madhya Pradesh filed the first case under the state's then-new 'anti-love jihad' law, after a 22-year-old girl from Barwani district accused a 25-year-old married man of physically assaulting her over her refusal to marry him and convert to Islam.
"As per the woman's complaint the accused... was sexually exploiting her... He told the woman he was from her community. Later he started forcing her to marry him and convert to his community, after which the woman filed a complaint," Rajesh Yadav, the Inspector in charge of the Barwani station, said.
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Charges of assault, rape and criminal intimidation were filed under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance (2020).
Teenage boy jailed in UP (2020)
In December 2020, two teenage friends were ambushed and harassed when they were walking home from a friend's birthday party in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor. The incident of alleged ‘Love Jihad’ led to the 18-year-old Muslim boy being jailed for days on end.
According to the allegation of the 16-year-old girl’s father, he had used a false Hindu identity to coax the girl to elope and was trying to force her to convert. However, the allegation was vehemently denied by the boy’s mother and the girl.
