A unique case of Love Jihad has emerged from Amroha, Uttar Pradesh. The state police charged and detained Chand, a Muslim, for sexually assaulting a Hindu girl and forcing her to convert to Islam. The accused also forced the girl to marry him following Islamic norms and changed her name to ‘Shabnam’ after the conversion.
The perpetrator is also reported to have raped the girl several times. Usha Sharma, a member of the Uttar Pradesh-based NGO ‘Nari Utthan Kendra’, has filed an FIR in this matter. The police have charged the accused under relevant sections of the IPC and POCSO in response to the allegation.
On Saturday (27th January), Chand, a resident of Shahpur Kalan in Hasanpur Kotwali, pressured a teenage Hindu girl living in Sambhal’s Rajpura police station area to marry him. Later he abducted the girl and brought her to the Amroha court for court marriage. However, the Hindu activists from the Bajrang Dal became cognizant of the couple and suspected them of engaging in love jihad. Following this, District Convenor Kushal Chaudhary, Co-Convenor Virendra Kumar, and Abhishek arrived at the spot, along with other members of the organization and the significant local population who demanded strict action against the accused.
The accused was caught by the Hindu workers after he attempted to flee from the spot. The accused was then handed over to the police for further investigation and required action. The girl was meanwhile presented before the Child Welfare Committee for medical treatment.
A case has been registered under both the POCSO Act and the Religious Conversion Act. Rape charges have also been filed against Chand and his accomplices in response to a complaint from Nari Utthan Kendra member Usha Sharma. It was later confirmed that the accused Chand converted the girl to Islam, renaming her Shabnam and forcing her to perform nikah (Islamic marriage). The girl is presently being held at the safe house.
While many propagandists have sought to dismiss Love Jihad as right-wing conspiracies, the plethora of cases reported almost every week points to a trend of how Muslim fundamentalists entrap gullible Hindu girls under false pretences before sexually assaulting them and forcing them to convert to Islam.
