The shocking case of rape and forced religious conversion through ‘Love Jihad’ in Kerala has triggered massive outrage across the country leading to Vice-Chairman of the National Commission of Minorities (NCM) writing a concerned letter to the Union Home Minister.
A 19-year-old Christian girl in Kerala was allegedly forced to convert to Islam after being raped and blackmailed. The victim’s parents had filed a case with the Nadakavu police station against 19-year-old Jasim, who was reportedly her classmate at a coaching centre in Kozhikode.
According to the complaint made by the victim’s father, the victim along with her two friends had visited Sarovaram Bio Theme Park in the city on July 7, where they had met Jasim accidentally. The 19-year old Christian girl was later drugged and sexually abused in a building in the park. The father of the victim alleged that Jasim recorded videos of the act.
Later, Jasim allegedly blackmailed her with the videos and forced her to convert to Islam. He also threatened the Christian girl of leaking the videos on social media, according to the police complaint. The parents have also accused the police of shielding the accused as investigation lagged for more than a month without any progress.
As police investigation was delayed, the victim’s parents had lodged their complaints with National Minority Commission (NMC), following which National Minority Vice Chairman George Kurian wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah requesting National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) intervention on the complaint.
In a similar case, a Malayali Christian girl from Delhi was allegedly abducted and taken to a West Asian country by one Mohammad Siddiqui. The parents of the girl had expressed their fear that their daughter ‘ould have been brainwashed and abducted and led astray with very nefarious designs like joining an outfit such as IS or being used as a slave.
In the letter written by NCM vice-chairman to Amit Shah, he had reportedly urged the Home Ministry to “take note of this alarming trend and order a probe by the National Investigative Agency” and bring in an effective law to curb such fraudulent activities of radicalised elements.
NMC Vice Chairman George Kurian and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took up the matter and organised a protest march towards Kozhikode Commissioner’s office on September 23. Kurian pointed out that Love Jihad is very much active in Kerala and the ruling CPI(M) led-government is shielding the accused.