Surya Samachar has reported a case of alleged love jihad from Faridabad in Haryana where a Muslim youth named Javed Khan married a Hindu girl after converting her to Islam. A case in this regard is registered against Javed and 8 others after Dhiraj Kumar Shukla – the father of the girl – filed a complaint at the police station. It is alleged by the complainant that Javed Khan forcefully converted his daughter and married her. The police have started investigating the case.
According to the report by Surya Samachar, Javed’s family members had visited the girl’s home and asked her parents to get their daughter married to Javed. The girl’s parents had, at that time, clearly refused citing different religions. However, Javed’s family members said that they don’t need anyone’s permission. After this, the girl and Javed did a court marriage.
The victim Hindu girl works in the HDFC bank. One day she left for her office but after some time, her father received a phone call from the bank asking why she hasn’t come to work that day. As the father started searching for his daughter, he came to know that she has married Javed after converting to Islam. The complainant also got a notice from the Faridabad court stating that his daughter has filed a plea seeking protection from him after the marriage.
As the complainant reached court and saw the relevant documents, he came to know that his daughter has already converted to Islam and married Javed Khan. The father of the girl has alleged that the prescribed procedure for conversion under the Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2022, has not been followed in this case.
According to this law, a citizen in Haryana state has to file an application in the SDM office stating that he or she wants to change his religion. After this, there is a specific notice period during which objection can be raised and the family of the applicant is bound to be informed. However, in this case, no such rule was followed and the girl declared her conversion on a simple affidavit.
Apart from Javed Khan, others named in the complaint include Javed’s family members, the people who signed as witnesses during the marriage. The Qazi who solemnized the marriage, and one is the registrar who provided the stamp have also been named in the complaint.
This is reportedly the first case registered under the Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2022. The parents of the girl said that this is clearly a case of love jihad and they are worried that their daughter will meet the same fate as Shraddha Walkar.
As per the provisions of this law, everyone named in the FIR can be arrested by the police. However, so far police are yet to make the arrests.
