Guwahati: Love Jihad, the term needs no introduction. All of us are pretty accustomed to the term, but do we really know what 'Love Jihad' infers, the story behind it? If not, let us travel back to the year 2009, when the term 'Love Jihad' for the first time caught the attention of the public.
Love Jihad, which alleges Muslim men marrying women belonging to other communities only to convert them after marriage. The first cases of Love Jihad in 2009 belonged to the state of Kerala and Karnataka, when Kerala Catholic Bishops Council and a right-wing organisation, Hindu Janajagruti Samaj claimed that higher number of girls were converted into Islamism in both the states.
Since then, there have been cases of 'Love Jihad' as they say in most of the states of the country. The right-wing Hindu activists have always seen it as a way of making the Hindus, a minority community and these marriages as a case of conversion. All of these cases of alleged 'Love Jihad' has only drawn a line to separate the two communities and has filled it up with hatred.
The recent case of the killing of Nikita Tomar was alleged as a case of 'Love Jihad' by her family members. They alleged that the accused, who belonged to the Muslim community was forcing Nikta to convert into Islamism.
On Tuesday, the Home Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Narottam Mishra has announced that a 'love jihad' bill will be introduced in their state assembly soon. The bill will include five-years imprisonment for the 'violator.' The term 'love jihad' has not been given any legal identity in the Indian legal system.
Even though the Article 21 of the Indian Constitution gives the right to marry a person of one's choice, the governments of a few BJP-ruled states are considering legal actions on the alleged 'love jihad' cases.
If we look around us, there would be many cases of interfaith marriages. However, no one can tell if the sole purpose of these marriages are conversion. India in its Special Marriages Act, 1954 has allowed interfaith marriages, hence no one can these marriages 'illegal'.