The growing occurrences of ‘love traps’ for females, according to Metropolitan Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany of Thalassery (formerly Tellicherry) Archdiocese, Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala, is concerning. In his pastoral letter to be read in local churches on Easter, the bishop expressed his worries over this issue.
He expressed concern about the alarming rise in cases of girls being duped by men who lure them into love traps and recommended that such instances must be prevented.
In addition, he emphasised the necessity for gender equality in the transfer of ancestors’ estates and made a case against the dowry system. He criticised the patriarchal attitude supported by brute power and decried the lack of respect for women in both society and the church.
He urged that women should be viewed as priceless assets in marriage rather than as mere commodities. He called for an end to this sexist custom and asked people to reject the custom of equating marriage with riches.
The Supreme Court’s ruling that daughters have the same rights as sons in the patrimony, he remarked, has not yet been effectively embraced by society. He proposed that extravagant weddings should be avoided by guaranteeing both male and female children equal inheritance rights.
Similar to this year, the archbishop stated that the ‘love traps’ that prey on young ladies associated with the Christian community are legitimate and that he is basing his assertion on reliable information, in 2022 as well.
In an interview with a Malayalam news channel, he conveyed that his critique of ‘love traps’ cannot be interpreted as animosity towards any faith. “These are factual statements. My statement does not invoke religious rivalry. I am only pointing out the concern of parents about their children treading on the wrong paths,” he observed.
A pastoral letter from the Thalassery archdiocese from September of last year likewise highlighted that terrorist organisations seek and entice unwary Christian women using ‘love traps.’ The letter appealed for prayers on behalf of the defenceless parents whose children had been abducted by religious fanatics.
“During this lent period we can offer our prayers for the parents who are helpless as they do not know what to do when their children have fallen into the ‘love trap’ by religious extremists. All our children should be protected from extremists that are one of our plans as part of our birthday gift to Mother Mary,” it noted.
In his sermon in the primarily Christian Kottayam district in September 2021, Pala Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt discussed the twin problems of ‘love jihad’ and ‘narcotic jihad.’ According to him, ‘jihadis’ are trapping Christian girls in the state by pretending to be in love, and the latter are then subjected to exploitation, forced religious conversion, and terrorist activities.
He used the accounts of two girls, Nimisha and Sonia Sebastian from Kerala, who converted to Islam in order to marry Muslim husbands and eventually found themselves in ISIS-controlled Afghanistan where they joined the terrorist outfit to illustrate his argument.
Furthermore, he underlined how a well-organized ring used narcotics to allure and ensnare non-Muslim youth and referred to it as ‘narcotic jihad.’
In 2020 the Bishop argued that those who claimed that ‘love jihad’ doesn’t exist in Kerala are ‘blind to reality.’ “Such people, be they politicians or those from social and cultural spaces, media may have their own vested interests. But one thing is clear. We are losing our young women. It is not just about love marriages. It’s a war strategy to destroy their lives,” he declared.
The horrific killing of Shraddha Walkar by her live-in boyfriend Aftab Amin Poonawala once again brought the serious threat posed by ‘love jihad’ to the forefront.
He purchased a refrigerator and stored her dead body inside it for a few days. Afterwards, he sliced her into more than 30 pieces and dispersed them all around Delhi before being arrested. It is important to note many Hindu females have succumbed to this menace over the course of the last several years.
