While interfaith marriages in India are extremely rare, they’re increasingly being exploited by extremists.
Hard line Hindu nationalists have promoted the baseless conspiracy theory of ‘Love Jihad’, the belief that Muslim men are marrying Hindu women for the sole purpose of converting them to Islam.
Asif Iqbal is the co-founder of Dhanak of Humanity, an N-G-O that helps interfaith couples.
“The moment the family comes to know about it, they will put the girl under house arrest, confiscate her phone, stop education and forcefully get her married to someone else.”
While there is no evidence to support the conspiracy, at least 11 states in India have introduced laws to allow people to report allegations of love jihad to police, and seek criminal charges.
Asif Iqbal says the 'dangerous conspiracy' theory is rapidly becoming mainstream.
“Earlier it was family and society that was stopping it. Now when the state governments have come with new laws, because these families are saying that what they were thinking is correct. The government is endorsing their view”.
In Haryana, Dheeraj Shukla is trying to use new laws introduced by the state BJP government in 2022, to end the marriage of his daughter to a Muslim man.
He’s registered a criminal complaint against his daughter, her husband and the man’s family.
