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Cithara Paul
Cithara Paul

CONTROVERSY

Fraying secularism

39-Shafin-Jahan Firm belief: Shafin Jahan at the Supreme Court after the initial hearing in the Hadiya case | PTI

The rhetoric about religious conversions and ‘love jihad’ has never been louder in Kerala, as the Hadiya case seems to have altered the secular texture of the social fabric of the state. But the data available with the state government—which has been passed on to the National Investigation

The rhetoric about religious conversions and ‘love jihad’ has never been louder in Kerala, as the Hadiya case seems to have altered the secular texture of the social fabric of the state. But the data available with the state government—which has been passed on to the National Investigation Agency—tells a different story.

As per the files on the ‘Cases of Love Jihad’, a copy of which has been accessed by THE WEEK, 78 such cases have been registered and investigated by the state police since 2015. Interestingly, the case file looks ‘secular’, as the complainants belong to all three major communities in the state—35 cases were filed by Hindu parents, 31 cases by Muslim parents and 12 by Christian parents. Ten of these cases are under various stages of investigation—five with the NIA and five with the state Crime Branch. The rest of the cases have been dropped, as the allegation of forced conversion could not be proved. The cases that have been handed over to the NIA are those with suspected involvement of international terrorist organisations.

Does that mean the concerns over ‘love jihad’ in the state are misplaced? “One cannot rule out the existence of forced conversions in the state,” said a police officer who has investigated many such cases. “We have known that facilitators operate in the state, and conversions in connection with marriages happen a lot. At the same time, we cannot call all of them ‘love jihad’. It is a complicated grey area.”

Significantly, of 78 cases registered under ‘love jihad’, 64 are from Malappuram, a Muslim-dominated district. Complainants, however, have almost equally been Hindus and Muslims. It is followed by Kozhikode, which also has a sizeable Muslim population.

While the police are yet to verify the existence of ‘love jihad’, it has created mistrust among communities. “It is terrible to tell your kids not to trust anyone, even their friends belonging to other religions. But what else to do?” said the mother of a teenage girl. There have been reports that admissions to professional colleges in Kasaragod and Malappuram have come down, as Hindu and Christian parents are reluctant to send their daughters to these areas.

Parayil Aboobacker, father of Hadiya’s friend Jaseena, who was said to have facilitated Hadiya’s conversion to Islam, said he was a victim of the ‘love jihad’ controversy. “Either the government should rework the law and ban all forms of conversions or it should make a rule that only a government body has the right to register conversions,” he said. “Such steps are important to maintain social harmony regardless of whether ‘love jihads’ exist or not.”

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