Raising alarms over the increasing number of Love Jihad cases in Kerala, the Syro-Malabar Church has alleged that Christian girls are targeted and killed in the name of ‘Love Jihad’ in the state.
Citing the Syro-Malabar Media Commission report, the Church said, “It is a matter of concern that ‘love Jihad’ is increasing in Kerala causing danger to the secular harmony & societal peace in Kerala”.
Syro-Malabar Church: Syro-Malabar Media Commission report says Christian girls are targeted & killed in the name of ‘love Jihad’. It is a matter of concern that ‘love Jihad’ is increasing in Kerala causing danger to the secular harmony & societal peace in Kerala.
— ANI (@ANI) January 15, 2020
In an official communique released by the Media Commission of the Syro Malabar Church, the Synod of the Church raised concerns over the state of affairs where Christian girls face the danger of conversion by the radical Islamists. Citing multiple reports, the Synod said that half of the 21 women who joined Islamic State from Kerala hailed from the Christian community.
“The lives of the girls lost ensnared in love have profoundly injured the secular conscience of the state. The menacing rise of Love Jihad stands to imperil the communal harmony and peace in Kerala. It is a fact that Christian girls are being targeted by the love jihad in the state,” the Synod said in the press release.
“It is a matter of utmost concern that many girls who are missing are not even mentioned in the official records.” Citing the increasing numbers of complaints of girls being trapped, disguised in love, raped and their videos used to blackmail them into conversion, the Synod advised parents to create awareness among children regarding the hidden dangers of pervasive love jihad in the state.
In 2019 too, Fr Antony Thalachelloor of the Church raised apprehensions over the targeting of Christian Community for Love Jihad. “All the Investigative agencies-CBI, NIA and Intelligence Bureau have said that the cases of love jihad have been reported from across the country. It is saddening and alarming that despite the existence of a mechanism to counter efforts by religious terrorist groups to entrap unsuspecting girls, these are not being dealt with efficiently,” he said.
Last year in September, the vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), George Kurian wrote a letter to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, asking him to commission a probe into cases of ‘love jihad’ or forced conversion of women by Islamic radicals.
Seeking the involvement of NIA, Kurian asserted that the string of systematic religious conversions and the exploitation of the victims for terror activities by trapping them through ‘love jihad’ has revealed that the Christian community is a soft target for Islamic radicals. The Kerala Catholic Bishops Conference’s (KCBC) Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance report cited by Kurian stated that there were 4,000 instances of “love jihad” between 2005 and 2012.
