Women and Religion: Love Jihad

I. Introduction

As per religious conscience in a country like India, men always enjoy a dominant position as interpreters and teachers, while women on the other hand remained as passive receivers of religious teaching and religious practitioners. In historical times, women were more interested and extremely active in the religious world. During the early ages, the nuns in Christianity probably had huge power³. They were independent groups without any influence from the clerical control and were able to act on their own. But in the course of time, things were put upside down. Nowadays, women always bear the late consequence of cultural attitudes as a result of religion being used as a tool to manipulate masses. The status of men has always been elevated over women in most of the religions. Those have certain sanctions which make them submissive unmindful of the changes towards equality issues. “Religion controls our thoughts. Religion also divided Indian society into castes granting privileges to higher caste and penalties to the lower ones”, said a Marxist feminist Usha Rani Vongour. Moreover, a Pew research study report in 2015 says that in the whole world women are more religious than men but a rising rate of atheist, agnostic and non-religious women have been caused. In United States, the number of non-religious women has tripled between 1993 and 2013. The so called phenomena of Love Jihad have made huge impact all over the nation. The non-Muslim were advised to alert from the Muslim men, when several alleged cases of mass conversion of non-Muslim teen girls to Islam were claimed. The Hadiya’s case made the whole nation to look after the issue. Many Facebook scandals were posted against Love Jihad and most of the Hindu Muslim couples all over the country were affected. The NCM also reported a letter to former minister Amit Shah regarding Love Jihad. The phenomena created a huge impact among the religious society.

II. Women in the eyes of religion:

Women as a minority right seeker in the religious aspect have been leading towards new ways to stand beyond centuries of male dominance by social media activism in the #MeToo era. The standards of women in different religion are discussed briefly here:

A) Roman Catholic:

The doctrine of the Catholics only insists on male priesthood on the basis that all apostles of Jesus were men. In a meeting of Bishops conducted recently on church affairs, there were only seven nuns among 267 male clergies and they were not even given any voting rights. Moreover, the nuns are often treated as servants by the Bishops and Cardinals to cook and clean in lower expenses.

B) Islam:

Prophet Mohamed insisted some important traditions and practices to be done by the women closest to him (wives and daughters). But, nowadays Islamic women do not give any Friday ceremonies and do not lead any prayer. The women werebarred from travelling or obtaining passport without the male guardians consent in Saudi Arabia. They were also prohibited from driving till last year.

C) Hinduism and Buddhism:

It is difficult to summarize briefly about the Asian-based faiths in Hinduism. Most Hindus consider the menstruating women as impure and the Sabarimala temple allowed the women to enter only after the Supreme Court judgement. The status of women may vary in Buddhism in different countries. Only after 2003, the nuns won a right to be treated equally as saffron-robed male monks till then they were only as glorified housekeepers in temples⁴.

III. Love jihad

Love Jihad being a prolonged propaganda lead by the Sangh Parivaar and VHP also known as Romeo Jihad. It is the activity by which the young Muslim boys/men target the non-Muslim females and facilitate their conversion to Muslim by feigning love. In India, official investigations on alleged cases started in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2014 further merely found any evidence regarding such activity. The concept arose to national attention in 2009, when there were claims of huge conversion of non-Muslim girls to Islam in Kerala and Karnataka. These claims have gradually spread throughout India and beyond Pakistan and the United Kingdom. Moreover, the Muslim organisations have denied the allegations while various Hindu, Sikh and Christian organisations have raised concerns. In 2009, the Kerala High Court, on action regarding the parental complaints alleging the abduction and forced conversion of two women eloped with two Muslim men, ordered a probe called “The Nation Wide Racket of Love Jihad”⁵. The campaign against inter-religious romance and Love Jihad has made many organisations emerging gradually. “Namomanta” is one among the organisations , which has floated before the Lokh Sabha election advised the women to keep in touch with the organisation especially who are feeling cheated by the husband in the conversion phenomenon. Sanjay Seth, the convener of the organisation said, “We shall keep the identity hidden and work for their rescue from these Jihadists who have used the sacred platform of marriage foe conversion”. Another such obnoxious move is the Rocky Drive by the RSS members in the Western Uttar Pradesh belt. The members lead the people to urge and protect the religion. Rajeshwar Singh, the RSS regional pracharak and Dharm Jagram in-charge said that “Each RSS worker from West Uttar Pradesh has been asked to tie at least 100 Rockies each in both rural and urban areas. Rockies would be tied to both men and women. People should also be urged to protect girls from Love Jihad”.

Again, the victims of love jihad helpline were setup by the Right-wing Hindus organisation in 2012 for activities of young Hindu women education who are likely to fall in the trap of Love Jihad and also provided legal help for the parents and restore the women desiring to return to Hindu Dharma. On the other hand, enormous complains have been filed by couples regarding death threats and sort of things and many Facebook post stating that the Hindu girls are the victims of love jihad and the Hindu lions are ready to hunt the Muslim men in the list of love jihad is have been identified by the police reports.

IV. Christians ‘soft target’ of love jihad:

The Vice Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), George Kurian wrote a letter to the Home Minister Amit shah, stating that, the Islamic terror recruiters in Kerala have the Christian girls as their “soft targets”. On September 23, 2017, George Kurian wrote that “The spate of organised religious conversions and using the victims for terror activities by trapping them through Love Jihad has shown that the Christian community is a soft target for Islamic radicals”⁶. He claimed the appointment of National Investigation Agency for effective law making on conversions and usage of victims in terrorist activities. He also stated that five out of twenty one people converted to Islamic from Kerala were Christians. He also mentioned the fact of teenage Christian girl who was blackmailed and sexually abused for conversion to Islam. The statement was made after the two complaints from Christian families to the NCM.

In Kozhikode, a Christian girl was raped by giving juice spiked with sedatives and the act was filmed by the culprit and later she was forced to convert to Islam by showing the video recording. A case was filed in Nadakavu Police Station by the victim’s parents against 19 year old Jasim, who was her coaching centre classmate. Based on the complaint, it was known that the victim and her two friends visited the Sarovaram Bio Theme Park and met Jasim accidently. The father stated that she was drugged and subjected to sexual assault and video recorded and then Jasim blackmailed her and forced her to convert to Islam by the video recording.

The second case stated was a Delhi girl abducted to a West Asian country and her parents complaining that their daughter would be brainwashed or cheated and made as a slave or made to join an Islamic state. The RSS and VHP have been campaigning against Love Jihad, this was the first incident that a statutory body like NCM to use the term Love Jihad to state that Christians were also being targeted by radical Islamists.

V. Rajasthan high court:

The Rajasthan high court on hearing an alleged Love Jihad case, declared certain guidelines for conversion among religious and inter-faith marriages and also declared that the following guidelines would be followed until a law is brought up by the state government regarding the matter concerned. A person filed habeas corpus for his sister Payal being alleged and forcibly converted to Islam to marry Faiz Modi. After this case, the court issued a ten point guideline regarding conversion.

The person conducting the ceremony or the authority fascilitatong the conversion must ascertain the will of the person desired to convert to another religion that it is out of free will and also that the person is having a full faith in the new religion and the conversion is not subjected to any force or threat. Proper information must be given to the district collector or sub-divisional magistrate or sub-divisional officer by the person wishing to convert to another religion in Rajasthan. The information shall be put on a notice board by the officer on the same day and also ascertain that such act was not forceful.The converted person shall solemnize hisor her marriage or nikah after one week of such conversion. If the district collector receives any information regarding forceful conversion or marriage,shall make appropriate action according to the concerned law in order to put a check on forceful conversion.The person solemnising the marriage must ensure that the conversion has been informed to the authorities. The marriages must be carried out in the above said norms and any such complain from concerned party may render to nullify the marriage. If any marriage takes place in contravention to the said rules then the marriage can be declared null and void acting upon the complaint made by the aggrieved party. Payal, who was later named Arifa after conversion, made an affidavit on a 10 rupees stamp paper to declare her conversion to Islam to the local police. Justice Gopal Krishnan Vyas, the head of the division bench said, “In this way, tomorrow even I could address myself as Gopal Mohammed”⁷. Later the bench said that, “There is specific pleading in the writ petition that nowadays members of the minority community targeting girls aged 16 to 17 years of Hindu and Jain community and once the girls attain the age of 18 and 19 years, after converting them to the minority community by force and preparing false and forged documents to solemnize the marriage of the teenagers” and further stated that under article 25 of the Constitution of India, there is a freedom of religion to every citizen of India but the answer to the question whether conversion to a religion can be made by using force for the purpose of marriage is “NO”.

Hadiya’s case:

Every study regarding the phenomenon of Love Jihad deserves the knowledge about the Hadiya’s case, which grabbed every ones attention. Akhila Ashokan was a Hindu girl from T.V. Puram village in Kerala. She left for Tamil Nadu for studying Homeopathy course in Salem. There, she was boarding with five women including two Muslims Jaseena and Faseena, Akhila started taking interest in Islam. She read books and watched videos and a new faith emerged in her and later on she began to pray. Eventually, she decided to call herself Aasiya. Akhila seemed changed to her father when she was reserved and reluctant to make some rituals when she was home. Then she returned to school wearing a Hijab. Aasiya, then started a residential program for the converts at Sathya Sarani in Kerala and she took the name Hadiya and registered on ‘waytonikha.com’, where she noticed a bearded, lean man named Shafin Jahan who was working in Muscat, Oman. Jahan was also a goalkeeper for the Kerala Soccer team. The couple fell in love and later got married. Before their marriage, her father argued in the court that his daughter was forcefully married and she should be returned to their custody⁸. The court on May, 2017 annulled Hadiya’s five month marriage to Jahan and Hadiya was taken in care of her parents. The court said that it is abnormal for an ordinary girl like Hadiya to abandon her studies for an alien faith and memorizing Arabic verses with a moderate intellectual capacity. Again, after three months, on August, 2017, Hadiya denied the forced conversion onscreen and also stated that she had been kept house arrest for three months. Eventually, Hadiya became sensational and everyone wanted to save a women who doesn’t even wanted to be saved. Fears of Love Jihad spread all around. Jahan wrote letters to Hadiya which were returned to him by her father. CCTV camera monitors and constables were ordered to be put by the court and neighbours were asked to alert them to visitors. Jahan contacted a Supreme Court lawyer, Haris Beeran for appeal in the Supreme Court. The case was argued both sides whether Hadiya must be heard at all. Hadiya said that she need the freedom to meet the person she love and also said that she was asking for her fundamental rights. She told about her parents trying to revert her to Hinduism and also wanted to complete her education. Then, Hadiya met Jahan after six months in a room with closed-circuit cameras. In November, 2018, the bench granted that Hadiya may reunite with her husband and leave her parent’s custody and also shall continue her studies as she was introduced to Islam by her friend and she converted to Islam by her own will and also there was no trace of such force or pressure from conversion from her husband’s side⁹.

Kayum’s case:

In 2016, Kayum Khan met Shvetha from a Choudhury’s family who lived in the same locality. They fell in love and in 2018 they decided to marry each other. But her parents opposed it and she soughed the police for help when she was threatened to death. Later, she was sent to the short stay home named Shakti Stambh. Kayum was attacked by the Choudhury’s family by making a false picture of Kayum molesting Shvetha’s younger sister Saloni, who was a minor. Later, Kayum was sent to a hospital in the locality by the police. A mob consisting of above 100 people surrounding the hospital in which Kayum was admitted and they raised slogans against Love Jihad and also demanded a case of molestation of the minor girl to be filed against Kayum. FIR was filed against Kayum by the police under six sections with sexual assault and 4 sections with the POSCO Act¹⁰ (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act). FIR against Kayum was filed before that was filed against the Choudhury’s family which was under IC sections 323, 143 and 341 which are minor and baillable. Kayum was arrested the very next day and was kept in jail till 20^th July. Shvetha sheltered in the home wrote “My sister Saloni is a minor and is being used by my family to file a false POSCO case against Kayum”. Meanwhile Kayum’s younger brother Monim fell in love with a Hindu girl from the Saini family named Asha Saini. Their relationship was opposed by her family and they beat her mercilessly and was sent to the Shakti Stambh by the police and in May, 2019, they married under the Special Marriage Act. The marriage made the neighbourhoods and surroundings to gossip that the family was paid up to 25 lakh rupees and whispers of Love Jihad spread over the locality. A few days after, the warehouse of Kayum’s family was set to fire and the Khans are continuously subjected to threats. The attack on Kayum landed a great impact and has terrified his family.

VI. Constitutional perspective:

The article 25(1) of the Indian Constitution renders every citizen with the right to parctice, profess and propagate any religion which could not be interrupted by any subversive forces or religious outfits. Yet, there always remains some anti-constitutional factors in the name of religion. Not every inter-religious marriage is due to Love Jihad and moreover in the name of anti-love jihad ,more and more inter-religious couples are being subjected to death threats and are seperated from each other. It has become difficult for the parents to accept a member from another religion into their own house when it comes to marriage of their own children. It can be expected from the young Indian generation to have a liberal and modern outlook in inter-religious marriages from the spread of education and globalization, especially when compared to their parent’s generation. The extreme difficulty in these marriages and relationships may lead to more serious crimes such as honour killing and physical assault by the parents or the members of the concerned community in order to maintain their class in the society. Moral education about such socialistic difficulties and practices should be made to young citizens from their schoolungs so that their minds can be reformed at an earlier age to the betterment of the society.

VII. Conclusion

In the recent scenario, the answer for the question whether the women are good for religion gets complicated as there are still some women fighting for their powers and control whereas some women on the other hand are distancing themselves from such situations as why to waste their energy and that’s the real serious situation in religion. Love Jihad, being a phenomenon has affected both the Hindu and the Muslim society. Most of the couples especially the Hindu girls in love with the Muslim men who are actually not victims of Love Jihad are humiliated by certain scandals and measures against Love Jihad. India is a secular country and it is not fair for the people of our country to be scattered and quarrelling in the name religion.

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