By Abu Zafar, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 14 September 2014: The genie of ‘Love Jihad’ was born in 2009 in Kerala and Karnataka. Soon after the high-level police enquiries in both states found the allegation of organized luring and conversion of Hindu girls by Muslim youths as fake and false propaganda, the genie died and has not reappeared in the two states yet. But after a gap of full five years, the genie was reborn, this time in north Indian region of Western Uttar Pradesh, thousands of kilometers from the South. As the mainstream media has ripped through the Sangh Parivar propaganda of ‘Love Jihad’, it is certain it will die soon. However, it is interesting to have a cursory look at the findings of the police enquiries into ‘Love Jihad’ in the South.
Karnataka
In 2009, a so-called case of ‘Love Jihad’ came to the notice of the people of Karnataka when a Hindu girl of Chamarajnagar district eloped with a Muslim youth. The girl’s father filed a habeas corpus in the Karnataka High Court alleging ‘Love Jihad.’ The plea was taken up by RSS-linked lawyers and from the court room to street to the media everywhere they cried about a huge conspiracy and planned conversion behind Muslim youths having love affairs with Hindu girls.
The High Court ordered a CID enquiry into the alleged conspiracy throughout the state. The CID probe junked all such claims. The court also found that particularly in the above said case, the girl willingly converted to Islam and married the Muslim boy.
In the seven-page report on 31 December 2009, the then CID DGP G. V. Guruprasad stated before the High Court that “there is no organised attempt by any group or individuals to entice girls/women belonging to Hindu or Christian religions to marry Muslim boys with the aim of converting them to Islam.”
At that time, Bharatiya Janata Party, the political outfit of Sangh Parivar, was ruling the state of Karnataka.
The genie disappeared as fast it had appeared from nowhere.
Kerala
The state of Kerala, a bit earlier, witnessed similar propaganda of ‘Love Jihad’. A case of alleged forceful conversion came to light and from the first day the term ‘Love Jihad’, and also a regional term ‘Romeo Jihad’ were widely used. Interestingly, the saffron propaganda was backed by the Christian community, the largest minority in the state.
The Kerala High Court gave eight questions to the state police and sought a report. The Director General of Police of Kerala Jacob Punnoose filed the report before the High Court denying the existence of any such group or organisation having such an aim.
The report said that there is no such group that exists in the state and there is no evidence for the same. Only two such cases of forceful conversion were ever registered in the last three years within the state. The report also denied the claim that such organisations get huge financial support from abroad.
The High Court asked the state police to submit a more detailed report. In the detailed report also, the state police debunked all claims about ‘Love Jihad’ in the state.
Five years have since passed and there is no talk about ‘Love Jihad’ in Kerala.
