"There's no Love. There's only Jihad" says SC Adv Monica Arora

Several Indian states have decided to regulate and make the laws more stringent that deal with the cases of Love Jihad. Supreme Court Advocate Monica Arora has shared her views about the problem of Love Jihad in an interaction with Newsbharati and Drishti Stree Adhyayan Prabodhan Kendra. In the interaction, Adv Arora explained how the problem of 'Love Jihad' is not a problem limited to the geographical boundaries of India but is a global issue.

According to Adv Monica Arora, the cases of Love Jihad have been rising all over the world in the recent time and not just India. At a global level, Europe and specifically UK seems to have been the centre of the increasing cases of Love Jihad. The advocate shared some quite disturbing cases where young girls, preferably teenagers are trapped through different means and deceived to get into an 'inter-faith' marriage and later asked to convert their religion. In cases, where manipulating the girls to convert their religion is not easily possible then the girls are forced by means of sexual abuse to do so.

"In such circumstances, when there are numerous victims of Love Jihad who are desperately seeking for help and we know the stories that explain how ugly and traumatic this can get for the women, what is still making us give it a second thought before we take lawful actions against 'Love Jihad' cases?" is a serious question that Adv Monica Arora has put forth.”

Although the problem became a hot topic in Indian media mainly after Faridabad's Nikita Tomar murder incident, but this is not a new problem. Adv Arora explained the case of Nikita Tomar, who was a bright student academically and a dear daughter to her parents, and shared that the girl was being harassed since a long time before getting killed to get converted. However, it was only because she refused and was quite firm about her decision that was treated in the way everyone saw. These details were shared by Nikita Tomar's mother with the police during the investigation.

She potentially stressed the point that "The problem of Love Jihad is not only the problem of India but of the whole world which can only be solved by communicating with the victims."

Adv Monica Arora particularly shared the story of a victim from England who met a very liberal and ideally modern Pakistani Muslim man and got happily got married to him. However, soon after the marriage the picture changed and she realized how conservative the man she got married to is, regarding his Islamic beliefs. The victim had to suffer for a considerable period until she was able to get out of the marriage and survive successfully, however, the trauma she had to suffer from can never be revived.

“The victim had explained the mindset that drove the Love Jihad movement through the exact words that she had heard from her Muslim husband who had said," You are girl against the Islamic teachings. It is the duty of a good Muslim to torture and abuse all such white non Muslim women, who are against Islamic teachings."”

Adv Monica Arora in her interview has also explained how the coming laws in certain states are not only regarding Love Jihad, but they mainly deal with the problem of illegal and unwilling conversion of individuals for the sole purpose of marriage, something that is lawfully unnecessary while marrying. She has explained how this is a violation of the fundamental rights bestowed to the citizens of India and an insult of the constitution. It is high time for India to take a unified stand against Love Jihad since it is not only a matter of religious beliefs but also of fundamental human rights.

Watch the entire interaction here: