On the 27th of November 2022, IANS tweeted that the National Investigating Agency (NIA) had submitted the chargesheet in the case of Deepthi Marla, alias Maryam, granddaughter-in-law of former Congress MLA Late Idinabba from Dakshina Kannada district for running a terrorist network in Karnataka and recruiting gullible Muslim youths to terrorist outfit ISIS.

#NIA has submitted charge sheet against Deepthi Marla, alias Maryam, the granddaughter-in-law of former Congress MLA Late Idinabba from Dakshina Kannada district for allegedly running a terrorist network in Karnataka and recruiting gullible Muslim youths to terrorist outfit ISIS. pic.twitter.com/aBOG2qeUc2

— IANS (@ians_india) November 27, 2022

It was in January 2022 that the NIA filed a charge sheet in the ISIS recruitment case. The charge sheet was filed against eight accused, including Deepthi Marla and Ammar Abdul Rahiman. Marla’s husband Anas Abdul Rahiman is the son of B M Basha, whose father Idinabba was a former Congress MLA. Idinabba died in 2009. Ammar Rahiman is Anas’s brother. Others charge sheeted in the case were identified as Mohd. Waqar Lone, Mizha Siddeeque, Shifa Haris, Obaid Hamid Matta, Madesh Shankar and Muzamil Hassan Bhat. 

“Investigation has revealed that all eight accused charge-sheeted today are affiliated with ISIS and were involved in radicalising, recruiting, organising terror funds and grooming like-minded gullible Muslim youth through different secured social media platforms to perform Hijrat to ISIS-controlled territory for joining ISIS,” NIA said in January. “During the investigation, it has been revealed that after the decline of ISIS Caliphate in Syria/Iraq, Deepthi Marla and Mohd. Ameen had visited Kashmir in January and March 2020 for Hijrah (religious migration) and for engaging in terrorist acts and supporting the activities of ISIS,” the NIA added.

It is pertinent to note that Maryam was a Hindu earlier and had later converted to Islam after marrying Anas Abdul Rahiman. When she was arrested by the NIA in January, the NIA had said, “She is from a well-off family. Her name is Deepthi Marla. She has studied in the UAE. She was attracted towards Islam there, married a Muslim from her native place and converted later.”

One would imagine that a case as clear and grave as this one would inspire the media to talk about the threat of Love Jihad (Grooming Jihad) far more seriously. It is a fact that Hindu girls are being trapped by Muslim men who later either forcefully convert them to Islam, push them into terrorism, groom them or murder and rape them. There are thousands of cases that have been documented over the years. With the case of Maryam, who not only converted to Islam but also started recruiting for terror outfit ISIS, it becomes clear that Hindu women are on the target of Islamists and the threat posed by this menace is not simply a figment of the Hindu mind.

IANS, however, had different plans. Instead of reporting the case and talking about the threat posed by Love Jihad, they proceeded to cite the case of Maryam and whitewash crimes that are being committed against Hindu women.

On the 27th of November, IANS published a report headlined, “Hindu hotheads raise the ‘love jihad’ temperature”. This report was picked up by several media outlets, including the Muslim-centric newspaper Siasat.com, to whitewash crimes against Hindu women.

The report by IANS starts by citing 3 cases that were clearly targeting Hindu women. First was the case of Maryam, who converted and then became a recruiter for ISIS. While Maryam herself is the terrorist in this case, it is pertinent to note here that she became one after marrying her Muslim husband and converting to Islam. The second case cited by IANS was that of a 13 year old Hindu girl was raped and tortured. She was then forced to convert to Islam and marry the 25-year-old Muslim accused. In the third case, IANS writes, “Apoorva Puranik, who embraced Islam after marrying Mohammad Ejaj Shiroor in Hubballi was stabbed 20 times for seeking a divorce. She found that Ejaj was already married with two children. Investigations revealed that Ejaj, an auto driver, allegedly trapped the victim, a MBA graduate, took her private videos, blackmailed and coaxed her into marriage. The incident was reported in March in Hubballi”.

While these cases cited by IANS itself had a clearly religious angle, the report then goes on to demonise Hindus who were talking about being vigilant against the menace and provided a platform for others to blame Hindus for their own persecution.

After talking about Sri Rajashekarananda Swamiji of Vajradehi Mutt in Mangaluru and Shri Ram Sene planning to start task forces to protect Hindu women, IANS quotes certain “experts” who wish to blame Islamic fundamentalism on “Hindu majoritarianism” while Hindu girls get targeted.

The first “expert” IANS quotes is Basavaraj Sulibhavi. Basavaraj Sulibhavi is a “political thinker” who is often quoted by IANS to whitewash the crimes of the Muslim community and whip up propaganda furthering the Muslim victimisation trope. In the report by IANS, he says, “The system is a culprit here. It is the first culprit indeed. It is being done from both sides. Fundamentalism, practised by both majority and minority, is forming mindsets of individuals”. He continued, “As a result of this development, individuals become prey to such fundamentalism. There is of course politics. It cannot be stated that a particular religion or a set of individuals alone are responsible. The growth of minority fundamentalism is largely due to fundamentalism by the majority. We have to move forward keeping all these factors in mind.”

IANS essentially gave a platform to this alleged “political thinker” to say that it was the Hindu mindset which was responsible for the Muslim community becoming radicalised, because of which they were targeting Hindu women, essentially, blaming Hindus themselves for their own rape and murder.

Further, the “activist” said, “There is an incident of Hindu activist stuffing a body in a suitcase. All these cases should be seen at an individual level. There is an attempt to pin it on to a religion. There is systematic fundamental politics. Whenever there is an incident, there is an attempt to blame and use an individual’s religion.”

This is a trope that is often used by individuals who wish to delegitimise the hate and religious crimes that being perpetrated against Hindus by Islamists. It is indeed true that crimes are committed by barbarians regardless of religion. Nobody in their right mind can claim that Hindus do not commit heinous crimes and that it is only the Muslim community that produces criminals. However, the issue here is much deeper. In cases of Love Jihad (grooming jihad) there is a clear religious hate angle that cannot be simply written off – essentially, making these crimes hate crimes and not merely a heinous crime that the administration needs to curb.

Let us take a recent case for example – a few days ago, a Hindu woman was gang raped at gunpoint and the rapist’s sisters recorded the act. The recording was then used to blackmail the girl, feed her beef and convert her to Islam.

The girl said in her complaint, that Akleem Qureshi raped her at gunpoint while his two sisters Tarannum and Shabana drugged her and made a video of the act. The accused thereafter used the video to blackmail her into eating beef forcefully against her will and convert to Islam. Qureshi forcefully took her to places like Allahabad, Banaras, Akbarpur, Ajmer and Bihar from where she was brought to Agra. In Agra, the girl alleged, that Akleem and his two brothers Shadal and Visal took turns and raped her.

According to the officials, the girl, who lived in the Shahi police station area, used to run a beauty parlour in her home, which Tarannum and her friend Gazala frequented. The victim and Tarannum gradually became friends, and one-day Tarannum persuaded her to come to her house, to which the victim agreed. Tarannum brought the victim to her house and imprisoned her in a room where Akleem Qureshi had previously been hiding. The offender then raped the woman while holding a gun to her head. Tarannum and Shabana, Qureshi’s two sisters, filmed the act. The recording was then used to pressurise the victim into eating meat against her will, converting to Islam, and marrying Akleem Qureshi.

In this case, while the act of gang rape is heinous in itself and can be committed by criminals of any religion, there was a clear religious angle that makes it a hate crime. Therefore, to say that it should not be dealt with as a special class of crimes simply because other crimes happen too is a classic tactic to shield the Islamists and delegitimise the persecution of Hindus, especially Hindu women, purely on the basis of religious hate.

In the IANS report, Pramod Muthalik is quoted extensively talking about the menace of Love Jihad and how the need of the hour is to implement a strict law to protect Hindu girls. “This is evidence of how Hindu girls are used for terrorism. There are many cases. Hindu girls are sent to Syria after kidnapping and trapping them in ‘love jihad’.” “In the case of Deepthi Marla, a Hindu girl who is arrested for allegedly recruiting gullible Muslim youth to IS had 14 bank accounts in her name. There is enough proof.” He added that thanks to anti-conversation laws, “more than 3,000 Hindu girls, who were victims of ‘love jihad’ have been brought back into the fold of Hinduism”. He concluded by pointing out: “Though they faced threats in the initial days, we supported them and ensured their safety.”

IANS then goes on to cite the same “political thinker” to negate what Muthalik said.

“There is a political motive behind these narratives. Fundamentally, the citizens of this country, to whichever religion they belong to, once they attain majority, they can marry the person of their choice,” Sulibhavi said.

“The citizens have got the constitutional right to marry persons of their choice. Today, attempts are being made to take away this constitutional right. The casteist and traditional mindsets provoke religious feelings to divide people in the name of religion,” Sulibhavi added.

While conceding that forcing the partner to follow a different religion after marriage is “wicked”, Sulibhavi essentially whitewashed the crimes of the Islamists by claiming that the issue is political in nature and an attempt to tarnish all “inter-faith marriages”.

It can be said that IANS quoted both sides of the argument and left the decision to the readers, however, their headline, which was repeated by several media houses, points towards their inherent bias and their attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of their readers, insinuating that Love Jihad is a figment of the “Hindu hothead” imagination.