While usual suspects fume as Devendra Fadnavis sets up panel to evaluate law against ‘Love Jihad’, here is why the Muslim victimhood is now well past its sell by date

The BJP-led Maharashtra government’s decision to set up a panel to formulate a law to deal with cases of Love Jihad has attracted outrage from the expected quarters. Rattled by the Maharashtra government’s decision, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi attacked the government on X (Formerly Twitter).

Owaisi questioned the need for a law against Love Jihad calling it a violation of the right to privacy. “Maharashtra government seems to have no other work except investigating interfaith marriage. It has now set up a panel to make a law against ‘Love Jihad’. Even the Modi government has said there’s no definition of love jihad, and many investigation agencies have debunked this conspiracy theory,” wrote the Hyderabad MP.

“The BNS already criminalises promising to marry after hiding one’s religious identity. Forced religious conversion is also a crime. This is just an attempt to create an “Uncle Sarkar’. The government interferes in who you marry, what you eat, which language you speak, where you live, and what religion you believe in. What happened to the right to privacy? It’s a fundamental right for everyone to choose their religion and spouse,” he added.

Maharashtra government seems to have no other work except investigating interfaith marriages. It has now set up a panel to make a law against "love jihad." Even the Modi government has said there's no definition of love jihad, and many investigation agencies have debunked this… pic.twitter.com/K723xY0scj

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) February 17, 2025

Owaisi is right when he says that the right to choose religion and spouse is a fundamental right under the Constitution of India. However, his insinuation that two individuals from different religions marrying each other is always a simple case of interfaith marriage is misleading. His statement is an attempt to cover the ugly reality of love jihad cases with a veil of consensual interfaith marriages. Owaisi is echoing an opinion that is shared by a so-called liberal section of society which includes activists, people of media, law, etc. Love Jihad cases have consistently been rejected as a right-wing construct by this ‘liberal’ lobby that chooses to ignore all the evidence before their eyes.

CM Devendra Fadnavis distinguished between consensual interfaith marriage and love jihad

Explaining why the Maharashtra government is planning to introduce a law against love jihad, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Sunday (16th February) that the cases of love jihad are on the rise in the state. He distinguished interfaith marriages from cases of love jihad saying that the latter involves fraud and deception. Fadnavis said that there was nothing wrong in interfaith marriages but cases of love jihad are different and need strict action.

“The Supreme Court has highlighted the reality of ‘Love Jihad’ in its verdict and endorsed it. We are seeing a rise in such cases, even in states like Maharashtra. Firstly, we must understand that a person from one religion marrying someone from another religion is not wrong. However, when such marriages are conducted with deceptive intentions, providing false identities, and then abandoning the children after marriage, it is a serious issue. Strict action must be taken in such cases,” he said.

Nagpur: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis says, "The Supreme Court has highlighted the reality of 'Love Jihad' in its verdict and endorsed it. We are seeing a rise in such cases, even in states like Maharashtra. Firstly, we must understand that a person from one religion marrying… pic.twitter.com/KgBrVAS3ZJ

— IANS (@ians_india) February 16, 2025

The Maharashtra government has set up a seven-member panel headed by the director general of police and including officials from the women and child welfare, minority affairs, law and judiciary, social justice, special assistance and other departments. The panel will suggest measures to deal with cases of love jihad and forced conversions. If a law against love jihad and forced conversion is passed by the Maharashtra government, the state will join the list of states including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh which have passed the anti-conversion laws to prevent forced religious conversions. Earlier this month, the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led Rajasthan Government tabled the ‘Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill 2025’ during the budget session in the state assembly.

Rising cases of Love Jihad across states

Last month, a minor Hindu girl was allegedly forced to convert to Islam by a Muslim man named Imam Ali Ansari in Sitapur village of Mauganj district in Madhya Pradesh. The victim’s family accused Ansari of love jihad.

In September 2024, a 26-year-old woman named Mahalakshmi was found chopped into thirty pieces and kept inside a fridge in Bengaluru’s Vyalikaval. Her estranged husband, Hemant Das, later unveiled that his wife had an extramarital affair, and he believed her lover Ashraf was responsible for the heinous murder. 

In the same month, a man named Fahad Hussain trapped a woman by concealing his identity and pretending to be Deepak in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Later, the girl came to know that his real name is Fahad Hussain. Forced by the circumstances, she embraced Islam and did Nikah with him, all in the name of love. Hussain even forced the girl into prostitution.

On Monday, 30th September 2024, a man named Aalim Ahmed in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, was sentenced to life in prison for rape, fraud and forced conversion of a Hindu woman to Islam. The court also convicted Ahmed’s father of criminal intimidation and sentenced him to two years in prison in a case involving fraud, religious coercion, and rape. A 20-year-old woman had filed a police complaint in May 2023 saying that accused Mohammed Aalim Ahmed, 25 had introduced himself as Anand Kumar. She alleged that the accused forced her to convert her to Islam and aborted her child during her pregnancy with him.

In October 2024, a Muslim man identified as Sahil Khan was arrested by the police for trapping Hindu girls by posing himself as a Hindu man named Raju in the Kawardha district of Chhattisgarh. Sahil Khan used to befriend girls by masquerading as a Hindu and then raped them in the name of teaching them occult magic. He even defrauded a woman of Rs 3 lakh in exchange for releasing her husband from jail. Khan also obtained a fraudulent Aadhar card with his fake name.

In November 2024, a case of love jihad came to light in the Moradabad division of Uttar Pradesh where a Muslim youth named Shariq posed as Honey to trap a 20-year-old young woman from the Katghar police station area. He raped in the name of getting her a job and then forced her to embrace Islam.

In Beawar, Rajasthan, the 6 Muslim men arrested on 19th February 2025 for the rape and blackmail of minor girls through online trapping and grooming have been thrashed by lawyers inside the court when they were produced for a remand hearing. The accused were identified as Rihan Mohammad, Sohail Mansoori, Lukman alias Sohaib, Arman Pathan, Sahil Qureshi and Afraz.

The abovementioned cases came to light within a span of five months. It is because of the rising number of such cases that the governments of some states passed specific laws to prevent love jihad and forced conversion. The problem is not restricted to India, it has emerged as a global menace. Recently, investigations into cases of child sexual abuse in the UK revealed that grooming gangs comprising mostly British-Pakistani men have been sexually exploiting children across cities in the country. The Left-liberals and Islamists have long been conflating Love Jihad with consensual interfaith relationships to divert attention from the actual issue. Every time the issue of Love Jihad is raised, these people try to undermine it by crying ‘Islamophobia’ which only contributes to the problem an results in persecution of Hindus.