All the categories of crimes against women we see, point to one stark and daunting reality, the subjugation of non-Muslim women, their grooming to make them ripe for Jihad and the tyranny inflicted upon them, including severe brainwashing is what an integral part of ‘Jihad’ is.
On August 21, the Paratapur police station in Meerut recovered the bodies of Priya and her daughter Kashish who had been murdered by Shamshad, as alleged by Priya’s friend Chanchal. Priya, a divorcee, had met Shamshad on Facebook where he posed as one Amit Gurjar, and later moved in with him. Shamshad, along with his wife Ayesha and brother-in-law Dilawar, apparently killed Priya and her daughter during the lockdown and buried them in the bedroom.
On September 26, police arrested Asif, a resident of the Sheikhupur area of Badaun, who had shot down his wife Neha the night before. Introducing himself as Rajkumar to gain her friendship and then her love, Rajkumar allegedly took Neha to Uttarakhand a year and a half ago, and married her. When they returned to Sheikhpur, Neha apparently discovered his real name was Asif, leading to discord between the two and eventually her death.
Cases like these prompted the Uttar Pradesh government to join other BJP-ruled states in mulling an ordinance against ‘love jihad', where the so called 'liberals' term it to be a conspiracy. Alongside, the legislation hass considered punishments against mass conversions. While the punishment for love jihad is expected to be five years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 15,000, mass conversions will attract more stringent punishment, from a minimum of two years to a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of Rs 50,000.
Non-Muslim women have been at the heart of Islamic subjugation historically. There are several stories of women being taken captive or even their mortal remains being desecrated after the Islamic conquest of Hindu lands and the defeat of Hindu rulers. Even today, there are several cases where, if one really wants to, one can see a pattern in how Muslims tend to use non-Muslim women as an essential pawn in their Jihad. The government hopes to introduce the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion Bill 2020 soon. The ordinance has already been drafted by the home department and sent to the state legal department. The CM has approved the draft and it will soon be presented to the cabinet.
Committed to the cause, CM Adityanath had reiterated his intent to end love jihad at an election meeting in the Malhani assembly constituency of Jaunpur on October 31, where he warned that love jihadis would be sent off on their last rites if they continued their activities. A day earlier, while hearing a case related to inter-faith marriage, the Allahabad High Court had ruled that marriage for the purpose of conversion was not valid. Keeping these points in mind, the home department in its draft has said that forced conversion or conversion through inducement of marriage will be deemed a crime. In case of forced conversion or conversion of a minor girl or of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe woman through marriage, the punishment will be more severe--imprisonment for a minimum of two years or a maximum of seven years, and a fine of Rs 25,000.
The new draft draws heavily from anti-conversion laws in other states and the findings of a report by the State Law Commission chairman Justice A.N. Mittal. In the 268-page report Justice Mittal had submitted in November 2019, he had cited several Supreme Court rulings against conversions as well as the Allahabad High Court case where an inter-faith marriage was set aside on charges of conversion. At present, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand have laws against forced conversions. Preparations are on to bring such an ordinance in Madhya Pradesh too.
In its strictest form, Love Jihad would mean that a non-Muslim woman, mostly Hindus in India, are lured into marriage with a Muslim man for the strict purpose of conversion to Islam. In this, the element of how the Muslim man lured his victim and how the conversion came to be extremely important. In this strict definition, the nuances that often lie outside the margins of the definition get terribly missed. Hindu women are being groomed to accept their own subjugation at the hands of Muslim men. They are kidnapped, raped, lured, converted to Islam, punished and brainwashed. There is no ‘Love’ in these crimes against humanity. There is no ambiguity that it is a form of Jihad. It is time to call it what it is – Grooming Jihad.
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