‘LOVE JIHAD’ IS NOT DEFINED IN ANY LAW, SAYS GOVT

NEW DELHI: The central government informed Parliament on Tuesday that the term “love jihad” has not been defined under extant laws and that no such case has been reported from Kerala.

The Union ministry of home affairs made the statement in a written reply to a question by Kerala Congress leader Benny Behanan on whether any of the central agencies have reported any case of ‘love jihad’ from the state during the last two years.

“The term ‘love jihad’ is not defined under the extant laws. No such case of ‘love jihad’ has been reported by any of the central agencies,” Union minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy said, asserting that Article 25 of the Constitution provides for the freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion subject to public order, morality and health.

Various courts have upheld this view, including the Kerala high court, he added. However, he said, two cases from Kerala involving interfaith marriages have been investigated by the National Investigation Agency.

‘Love jihad’ is a term popularised by some Hindu groups to describe what they believe to be an organised conspiracy of Muslim men to force or trick Hindu women into conversion and marriage.

Recently, Kerala’s largest Christian denomination, the Syro-malabar Catholic Church, had said that women from the community were being targeted and killed after being forced into marriages through “love jihad” and blamed the police for not taking effective measures to curb the menace.

The claims were later questioned within the church.