INDIAN MUSLIMS FLEE VILLAGE IN WAKE OF `LOVE JIHAD' LAW

Nearly 40 Muslim families in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh are fleeing their village after saying that they have been subjected to a campaign of harassment by a Hindu nationalist group, one month after laws were passed criminalizing marriage between Hindus and Muslims. On Dec 23, two dozen members of the Bajrang Dal fired bullets at the house of a Muslim shopkeeper in the village of Mavi Meera after he refused to give them free cigarettes. There were no injuries but members of Mavi Meera's Muslim minority population decided to leave the village. Mavi Meera is home to about 600 families, and tensions between its Hindu and Muslim residents have existed since 2013. But since the “love jihad” laws were passed in November, the Bajrang Dal group has stepped up its regular sermons in the village and described Muslims as outsiders. When Muslims approached local police to register the shootings, some Hindu officers allegedly told them to drop the claims or face charges themselves. Police denied the allegations and said they were investigating.