The Special CBI court on Thursday acquitted DG Vanzara and AK Amin of all the charges in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Earlier, on April 30 the court had reserved its verdict on the two applications filed by Vanzara and Amin.
Welcoming the court’s decision, DG Vanzara’s lawyer Vinod Gujjar said, “The court’s order establishes that the encounter was genuine.” The two officers Vanzara and Amin had filed a discharge petition in the court after the Gujarat government declined to grant sanctions to the CBI to prosecute the two former police officers.
The Judge of the Special CBI court Justice J K Pandya said that in the absence of the authorisation of prosecution from the government, their discharge appeals are allowed and proceedings against them will be dropped in the case. As per section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the government’s permission is essential for the prosecution of a public servant for an act done as part of the official duty.
However, Ishrat Jahan’s mother joined her counsel Vrinda Grover and opposed the pleas on the basis that there was no need for the CBI to seek sanction for prosecution. Grover said that, “The government refusing to grant sanctions is invalid and has been passed unreasonably, without application of mind.” Grover further argued that the alleged offences carried out by the officers fall outside the scope of their official duty and hence government sanction may not be mandatory for their prosecution.
DG Vanjara and AK Amin were accused of carrying out fake encounter in the outskirts of Ahmedabad city in 2004 in which 4 people including Ishrat Jahan were killed. The Gujarat Police had asserted that Ishrat and other 3 people gunned down in the encounter had links with Terrorists and their plan was to assassinate the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. DG Vanzara and Amin were acquitted last year by a special Mumbai court in the case of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi’s killings.
No, Dr Manmohan Singh, the Army did not carry out any surgical strikes during your years in power. This has been established beyond all reasonable doubt by the DGMO’s response to an RTI request in this regard in August 2017.
And yet, here you are. Giving interviews to people who perhaps should be described as “pliable” journalists, making wild claims of “many surgical strikes” happening under your rule.
What a disgrace sir! What a disgrace! A former Prime Minister effectively telling the whole world that the Indian Army lies about military operations. There is no doubt that India’s enemies will pick up on this contradiction and say that India’s “surgical strikes” are just figments of imagination, planted by the politicians from time to time to harvest votes from the public.
As a common citizen of this country, with much irritation and despair, there is only one thing that I can ask from you with folded hands: Please retire from politics. You’ve done enough.
Under your gracious ten year rule, India saw the most humongous scams in its history. Think about the great 2 lakh crore coal scam robbery. The bureaucrat who served directly under you as Coal Secretary was convicted in a coal scam case and sentenced to three years of imprisonment. But no taint could be laid on you personally and for that I congratulate you. I also congratulate your driver that he was not blamed for anything. Unlike the drivers of other famous and important people. It was the secretary who was committing crimes, not the driver and certainly not you.
Dr Singh, weren’t you supposed to be some kind of economist? So many of the astronomical loans given out by Public Sector Banks during UPA rule have turned into NPAs. We the people are still struggling to put our banks back together and get them to stay afloat after being hit by the Everest sized iceberg of bad loans given during your tenure.
So, please, have mercy on us and do not undermine this nation further.
Perhaps your bitter remarks on surgical strikes are some kind of perverse outcome of your frustration over being Prime Minister for ten years, but having no power. Did they order you to introduce an ordinance allowing convicted corrupt politicians to still contest elections? All so that Rahul Gandhi could tear up the ordinance and act like a hero, humiliating you publicly and turning you into a laughing stock in the process? I don’t know. But if that’s true, I can imagine your frustration.
But please do not take your frustration out on us. This is between you, your counsellor and the top Congress leadership. Leave us out of this.
I think this nation has already given you enough, mostly credit that you obviously did not deserve. Since the early 1970s, you were embedded in the government establishment, dutifully applying your ‘economist credentials’ to justify the disaster that was Nehruvian socialism. By the time you were promoted by the Congress from “independent” RBI governor to Finance Minister, India’s economy was in shambles, breathing its last. All because of the policies that you promoted all your life. Then, in 1991, just before you turned 60, you introduced yourself to the nation as a “reformer”.
I am curious. Did you always believe in a market economy, but keep quiet until the age of 60 so that the Nehru-Gandhis would keep approving your promotions? Or did you have a sudden change of heart around your 60th birthday? Anyway, I congratulate you for getting credit for those reforms instead of then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. You were Prime Minister when PVNR passed away in 2004. They say that you couldn’t even arrange to have his body unloaded from the gun carriage and brought inside the Congress office.
You are a great man, Dr Singh. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.
Just before you left office after losing the 2014 election, the UPA government passed an order granting free electricity to your bungalow. I hope you are enjoying that free electricity. After 58 years of Congress rule, you may not have succeeded in giving every household in India an electricity connection, but I am glad you don’t have to pay your electricity bill.
Again, with folded hands, I request you to retire from politics. This nation is still reeling from the humiliation of 26/11. Most countries still can’t believe that India did absolutely nothing to salvage its dignity after that Mumbai attack. Because they don’t understand you. But we do. So, please don’t spread gossip and rumour about surgical strikes like you are doing now. Have mercy on us. I beg you.
As soon as the news of the chief of the Jaish-e-Muhammad terror outfit, Masood Azhar being designated as a global terrorist on the United Nations Sanctions List trickled in, the Congress party scrambled to snatch some of the credit for the development. Taking a jibe at the NDA government, Congress in said, “The process was started in 2009 under UPA government and we are happy that process has concluded after 10 years.”
After the NDA govt let off Masood Azhar in 1999, India has been fighting for him to be declared a global terrorist since 2009 when the UPA govt first initiated it. We welcome the Security Council’s decision & hope this brings justice to the families of those that lost their lives
However, Hardeep Singh Puri, who served as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013 has busted Congress’ lies claiming that they are in always in the habit of lying. Puri said, ” I was there as a Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. Congress is blatantly lying in claiming credit for Azhar’s listing. They did not follow up for the listing of Jaish chief Masood Azhar.”
After Congress jumps to take credit for Masood Azhar terror designation at #UNSC, India’s former envoy to @UN – @HardeepSPuri tells me that Congress is lying to the nation as it did no follow up for listing of Jaish terror Chief Masood Azhar at UNSC, questions double standards. pic.twitter.com/4sVic8UrAT
— Ravinder Singh Robin ਰਵਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ راویندرسنگھ روبن (@rsrobin1) May 2, 2019
With Puri’s recent assertions, Congress’ big fat lie regarding Masood Azhar’s listing stands exposed. Debunking Congress’ lies, Puri further said, “They were in power from 2009 to 2014. If they couldn’t do anything in those 5 years to get Masood Azhar listed, why are they claiming credit for a 10-year-old thing now?”
He further added that as Congress’ policies on national security have been a failure and now PM Modi’s government has been delivering results on issues of national security and actions on terrorists, Congress is now trying to cover up their failures by telling lies.
It is notable here that there have been four attempts to list Azhar as a global terrorist in the UN security council. After the 2009 proposal India had moved in the UN, the next proposal to ban Azhar was moved only in 2016 by the Modi government. In 2017, another proposal was moved. Earlier this year, China had blocked the fourth proposal too but after the clearing of technicalities, yesterday, Azhar was finally declared a global terrorist by the UN.
The ban on Azhar will now lead to a global travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo.
Activist Harsh Mander, the obsessive Ishrat Jahan apologist, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking recusal of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi from hearing a case relating to the condition of detention camps and deportation of illegal immigrants from Assam.
Harsh Mander moves application seeking recusal of CJI Ranjan Gogoi from hearing the case concerning treatment of inmates at the detention centres in Assam.
Harsh Mander had originally filed a petition on the conditions of illegal immigrants caught and kept in detention centres in Assam, most of whom are Bangladeshis, and later the court had expanded it to examine the status of deportation of the foreigners. In a petition filed through Prashant Bhushan, Harsh Mandar had alleged that persons declared as foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunals were kept in inhuman conditions in the detention camps in Assam. The petition had argued that keeping illegal immigrants in camps violates the articles 14 and 21 of the constitution.
A large number of people are kept in the camps even after the expiry of their jail term awarded by the Tribunal, as there is no formal agreement between India and Bangladesh for sending back the illegal Bangladeshis caught in India, and they can’t be released in India as they will become untraceable. For this reason, the apex court had included the matter of deportation in the case, so that the matter can be resolved.
But now the portioner had objected to CJI Ranjan Gogoi hearing the case, alleging that the CJI has “through his actions proved that he is interested in the repatriation of the illegal immigrants/foreigners and is using the petition to ensure that the State of Assam commits mass deportation of alleged foreigners”.
Activist Harsh Mander doesn’t want #CJI#RanjanGogoi to hear the #Assam illegal immigrants matter, alleging bias. He claims #CJI is “interested” in mass deportation of alleged foreigners. SG Tushar Mehta has dubbed the plea as scandalous. Detailed hearing at 2 PM today. pic.twitter.com/5vCQQOIUSK
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has strongly objected to the petition, calling it scandalous.
This petition by Harsh Mander shows that in the name of conditions of detention camps, the activists want to prevent deportation of illegal immigrants to their origin countries. People kept in detention camps are proved as illegal immigrants after detailed proceedings in the Tribunals, and there should not be any objection if they are sent back.
If the detainees are released from camps in the name of inhuman conditions but not deported, they will have to be accommodated in the society, which will defeat the very purpose of the mechanism of detection of deportation of illegal immigrants from India. The court will hear the petition at 2 PM today.
Harsh Mander had recently written a shoddy article that thanking Jinnah. In the article, the activist Harsh Mander writes about the ‘political marginalisation’ of Muslims. This is strikingly similar to one of the key reasons cited by Jinnah for a separate country. This attracted the attention of Twitter users. Some of them tacitly approved the comment, while others opposed it.
He was also a part of the liberal-secular ecosystem that signed a mercy petition for Yakub Memon and was instrumental in the formulation of the Communal Violence Bill that deemed all Muslims as the victims and Hindus are the aggressors should communal violence take place.
In a despicable instance of Left-Wing terrorism, 16 security personnel lost their lives after an IED blast at Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. The landmine blast blew up two vehicles carrying a team of the C-60 commandos, an anti-Naxal unit, who were patrolling the area.
Over the years, Left-Wing terrorism has claimed the lives of thousands and thousands of our soldiers and civilians. And despite the inhumanity, they have regularly exhibited in their conduct, their terrorism is still portrayed as a righteous struggle in many quarters.
One of the primary reasons why Naxalism survives to this day is because the Indian State has been waging the war with one arm tied behind their back. The Intelligentsia has regularly and often chastised the Indian State whenever it has tried to crush the Naxal forces. Under the UPA regime, such people exerted disproportionate influence in policy.
For any brand of terrorism to be really successful, it is essential that the movement has sympathizers out of it whose primary objective is to humanize the adherents of the core ideology that inspires terrorists and prevent the implementation of any measure that has the potential to curb these terrorist activities.
We see this particular phenomenon with Islamic terrorism all the time. A certain section of the Intelligentsia is always quick to condemn any violent acts of terrorism, however, they prevent any legitimate discussion on the actual issues that inspire the terrorists to commit massacred. Simultaneously, the terrorists are projected as some ‘misguided youth’ who turned towards terrorism because of some crime committed by the victim community. It could be ‘Islamophobia’, ‘racism’ or simply saying that Sharia has no place in modern society or something more innocent like a joke. But the real problem, you see, according to the intelligentsia is anything but the core beliefs of the terrorists’ ideology.
A very similar phenomenon is observed with Left-Wing Terrorism as well. We have a bunch of ‘intellectuals’ who will be very quick to condemn whenever Naxalites slaughter innocents. However, the rest of the time, they will be busy portray Naxals as some sort of Robinhood who are fighting for the rights of the disenfranchised.
Kanhaiya Kumar is, perhaps, the perfect example of this brand of intellectualism. He was quick to offer his condolences and condemn the terror attack that claimed the lives of 16 of our soldiers.
पूरा देश गढ़चिरौली में नक्सलियों के हमले में 16 जवानों के शहीद होने पर स्तब्ध और दुखी है। इस तरह के कायराना हमले मानवता को शर्मसार करते हैं। शहीद जवानों के परिजनों के प्रति मेरी संवेदनाएँ। #Gadchiroli
The Communist candidate from Begusarai is the same individual who believes that Naxals should be awarded the status of a martyr.
According to Kanhaiyya naxalites shud get status of martyrs like soldiers .. these kind of people shud never become law makers .. hope they have not voted for him pic.twitter.com/TzmpIRvFYe
Kanhaiya Kumar is the quintessential activist who encapsulates all that human rights activism stands for. That he has the backing of the entire Intelligentsia and is being projected as a great intellectual himself without having any great achievement to his credit is perhaps the greatest tragedy for our nation.
Last year, Gadchiroli was the site of one of the most successful anti-Naxal operation in Indian history. As it turns out, human rights organizations called it a state-sponsored mass slaughter. One particular intellectual, who is currently under arrest in connection with the violence at Bhima Koregaon and an alleged plot to assassinate the Prime Minister, attended the funeral of a slain Naxal Terrorist. Another of those arrested, Arun Ferreira attended high-level Naxal Meetings and was a member of the CPI (Maoists) as revealed to OpIndia.com by surrendered Naxal Pahad Singh himself.
According to Singh, these ‘jobless intellectuals’ are as dangerous as the footsoldiers on the ground as these were the people who often brainwash Adivasis into picking the gun. And these are people who are widely respected in the intellectual fraternity. The crackdown on these terrorist sympathizers last year, we were told, was fascism.
The sole purpose of these intellectuals is to humanize the terrorists and deflect criticism of the actual ideology that motivates these individuals to commit the atrocities they do. In doing so, they cripple the ability of the Indian State to deal effectively with these terrorist networks. These intellectuals would rather blame the Indian State, which has been more than lenient with these subversive elements, than the actual morbid ideology of the terrorists. Today, they are condemning the attack but tomorrow, they will be back again whitewashing the crimes of the Naxalites.
Two days ago, a distressing video went viral where Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, sister of Congress President Rahul Gandhi was seen smiling and watching over as children, coached by Congress, were abusing PM Modi. The children raised ‘chowkidar chor hai’ and ‘neem ka patta kadwa hai, Modi sa**a bh***a hai’ slogans. Today, Smriti Irani reacting to the viral video said cultured families should keep their children away from such a person (Priyanka Gandhi Vadra).
Smriti Irani on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s video with children raising anti-Modi slogans:Doesn’t Mrs Vadra know that you can’t use children for political activity?What values are you giving to children.I’d say that cultured families should keep their children away from such a person pic.twitter.com/9F0dRjcBPn
Smriti Irani asked whether Priyanka Gandhi Vadra knows that children should not be used for political activity. She also hit about at Vadra by asking what sort of values is she giving children.
Union Minister Smriti Irani then said that cultured families should keep their children away from such a person.
Smriti Irani on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s “awara pashuon kay naam bhi hain” barb against PM & UP CM: This is her real face. She is disrespecting a prime minister and a state chief. She denigrated Gorakhnath math adhyaksh. Will she do the same in Gorakhpur? pic.twitter.com/EQxKxx9Hmg
It is pertinent to note here that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written to the Election Commission (EC) regarding the video where Congress General Secretary and Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s sister Priyanka Gandhi is seen giggling and laughing as children abused PM Modi.
In its letter, the NCPCR stated that they are in receipt of a complaint which has a video video where children are actively participating in an election campaign. “The children can be seen making derogatory remarks and using abusive languages in the presence of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi,” stated the letter. The commission mentioned that as per a letter issued dated January 20, 2017, it had asked the EC to “ensure that children are not involved for election purposes and also, had recommended to all national parties to not to use children for distribution of posters/pamphlets, participate in slogan shouting, rallies etc.”
Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who led the government during the ten years of UPA, has lied. In his interview with Hindustan Times with former NDTV journalist Suneta Choudhury, who was excited when Modi was diagnosed with swine flu, Dr Manmohan Singh said that ‘multiple surgical strikes’ took place during his tenure as the prime minister.
Stating that the armed forces were given a free hand to operationally respond to threats, Dr Singh said, “Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises.”
However, the DGMO (Director-General of Military Operations) in a reply to an RTI filed said that there are no records or proofs of any surgical strike being carried out prior to September 29, 2016. The DGMO was responding to a specific question about surgical strikes being carried out between 2004 and 2014.
Earlier too, Congress has peddled the lie that UPA government had carried out surgical strikes too. Right after the Uri surgical strike, Congress’ Randeep Surjewala had said that such strikes were conducted in UPA tenure too. “We are proud that even in the past our forces have successfully conducted such surgical strikes on numerous occasions, he had said at a press briefing right after the surgical strike. Giving specifics, he had said, “Particularly on September 1, 2011, July 28, 2013, and January 14, 2014, giving a befitting reply to the enemy. In its maturity, wisdom and in the interest of national security, the Congress Government avoided making loud claims for the effective response and action of the Indian Army. Not just the Congress government, the previous governments too had conducted surgical strikes.”
The DGMO at the Integrated Headquarters of Defense Ministry(Army) clarified in a statement that, “This section does not maintain records of any other surgical strikes if any conducted earlier.”
In addition, the RTI application had also sought the definition of surgical strikes in the Indian Army. The DGMO said, “As per the information available in ‘open source’ the definition of ‘surgical strike’ is ‘…an operation which is planned based on specific intelligence, on a legitimate military target for maximum effect and with minimum or no collateral damage. It involves deliberate insertion to the target area, precise execution and swift extrication of the body of troops back to the base’.”
Despite Army’s categorical denial, former Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh lied.
This is not the first time he has lied. During the run-up to the Gujarat Assembly elections, Dr Singh had lied that Prime Minister Modi who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat never discussed the Narmada with him. And he lied about Narmada issue while campaigning in Gujarat not once, but twice.
It is rather unfortunate that the leader who chose to remain silent for ten years as a prime minister, lies when he finally decides to speak up.
The Supreme Court has asked the Election Commission whether polling can start from 5 AM during the Muslim fasting period of Ramzan. The SC has asked the EC to pass necessary order in a representation that sought the preponement of voting from 7 AM to 5 AM owing to Ramzan. The petition said that this should be done to ensure convenient and fair opportunity for everyone to cast their vote, especially, the Muslim community.
The petitioners were Mohammad Nizammudin Pasha and Asad Hayat.
The petition sought the Supreme Court to direct the Election Commission to increase the time of polling for 2 to 2 and a half hours so the voting could begin at 4:30 AM or 5:00 AM as the logistics would permit for the rest of the three phases of 2019 Lok Sabha election. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by two lawyers.
The petition said that several Muslims who are fasting would be unable to go out and cast their vote since the heat would be too severe.
The petition said:
“During this month, a large percentage of the voting population, i.e. adult Muslims, both men and women, young and old alike will be fasting and will not be consuming food or water starting approximately 1.5 hours before dawn till dusk every day. In this intense heat, it will be very difficult for Muslim voters to queue up at the polling booths during the day in the intense heat to exercise their franchise. During Ramzaan, most practising Muslims stay up / wake up for an early morning meal called Sehri and sleep after the morning Fajr prayer. Thereafter, they avoid going out in the heat to the extent possible to avoid thirst, dehydration and the possibility of heatstroke”.
The petition also said that the Indian Meteorological Department, Government of India has issued a temperature warning and that it is expected to be hotter than usual in Madhya Pradesh, Eastern UP, Bihar, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. “In this intense heat, it will be very difficult for Muslim voters to queue up at the polling booths during the day to exercise their franchise.
Source: LiveLaw
The petition also said that advancement of the poll timing would allow Muslim to vote immediately after the morning prayers (Fajr) and return home before it gets too hot.
Source: LiveLaw
The petition also said that the representation has been made to the EC and EC hasn’t responded or acknowledged the representation. Hence, the SC is requested to direct the SC to extend timing to help Muslim voters.
Essentially, the petition requested the Supreme Court to direct EC to change polling rules because fasting Muslims would feel too hot while fasting during Ramzan. The petitioners also said that they have already made a representation to the Election Commission with this particular grievance. The Supreme Court has asked the Election Commission to pass necessary orders in this regard.
In a collective letter addressed to Imran Khan on 30th April, 51 Members of the European Parliament addressed their concern over the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan and warned him that failure to prevent such incidents would result in the suspension of subsidies and trade preferences to the country.
The letter reportedly read that Pakistan had deviated from the original intentions of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah had reportedly wanted a country where the citizens would be treated equally regardless of their religion. But ever since the country adopted the Objectives Resolution in 1949, which declared the Constitution of Pakistan would be based on Islamic ideology, Muslims have always had the upper hand in the country.
As per reports, the letter to Imran Khan says that successive governments have ensured religious minorities would face political, economic and social discrimination as well as encouraging the growth of radical Islamic groups that would bring violence upon them. The reports of the letter come just after the United Nations listed Jaish chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.
Paradoxically, Pakistan is the only state that has declared Ahmadi Muslims as non-Muslims community. As a result, even they have faced religious persecution in a land that systematically supports Muslims.
The letter also draws attention to the Asia Bibi case, where a Christian woman was faced with blasphemy charges. The EU has said that the continued misuse of the Blasphemy laws and apathy to change them would imply that Pakistan was encouraging such persecutions.
Citing a report by Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan, the letter also brings up the issue of forced conversions. Reportedly, on average, over 1000 girls from Christian and Hindu communities have been kidnapped and forced to marry a Muslim every year.
The last concern raised by the letter was the rise of religious extremists groups that have unleashed their violence upon the minorities and their places of worship, with the support of the state of Pakistan.
As reported by ANI, the EU reminds Pakistan that the continued religious oppression of minorities violates the UN treaty of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which is the foundation of Internation Convent on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The EU warns Pakistan that unless an assurance is given that the country would effectively implement the Convention, all subsidies and trade preferences would be suspended.
The Members of Parliament have urged Pakistan to dismantle all constitutional and institutional structures that have resulted in the persecution of minorities if the country wishes to remain as a beneficiary of the European Union General Scheme of Preference Plus (GSP+). Abiding by the ICCPR is prerequisite for the GSP+ status.
It is also notable here that Pakistan has been put in the FATF grey list for its continued support to terrorist groups and failure to take strict measure against terrorist organisations based on its soil.
“Love Jihad”, also known as “Romeo Jihad” in some countries, is a strategy of luring vulnerable girls to convert to Islam by feigned love. Instead of genuine marital bliss, these girls get trapped in a web of deceit and frequently end up in the hands of Islamic extremist organizations. This phenomenon has been dismissed by the self-proclaimed “liberals” as a figment of the “right-wing” imagination. However, what is the truth? Does Love Jihad truly exist?
A review of some such cases in news points to a fixed pattern and modus operandi of the perpetrators.
National level shooter Tara Shadeo from Ranchi, Jharkhand complained that she married Ranjit Kohli as per Hindu rituals who turned out to be Raqibul Hasan Khan. After the wedding, he insisted on having a Nikaah and tortured her to accept Islam
National level Taekwondo player from Kanpur, UP complained that she was cheated by a man who introduced himself as “Raja”. He turned out to be Mohammed Waseem who had concealed his religion to lure her and then forced her for conversion and Nikaah. Her identity was withheld, she was a minor (only 14 years old) at the time of the incident
Girl from Bareilly, UP reported that she met “Golu” in a gym who was sporting a “Tilak” on the forehead and “Kalaawa” (Hindu sacred thread) on the wrist. He turned out to be Aamir who started forcing her to accept Islam and eat beef before marrying her
A girl from Shamli, UP reported that a man approached her on Facebook under a forged Hindu name, spiked her drink, made her obscene video and blackmailed her into marrying him. He later tried selling her to human traffickers
Subhologna Chakraborty from West Bengal was getting ready for court marriage with someone whose real name turned out to be Sheikh Sultan. When Family called off the wedding, he shot Subhologna dead and injured both her parents
In 2009, Kerala High Court confirmed the signs of “love jihad”; the court’s statement mentioned the following observations –
during the last four years, 3,000 to 4,000 religious conversions have taken place after love affairs
involving converting girls from other religions to Islam after enticing them to marry Muslim boys
police reports indicated a ‘concerted’ effort to convert girls of a particular religion to another with the ‘blessings of some outfits’
fundamentalist outfits like National Democratic Front (NDF) and Campus Front have roots in college campuses in various cities
there were indications of “forceful” religious conversions under the guise of “love”, the Kerala State High Court recommended the government to consider enacting a law to prohibit such “deceptive” acts
In 2016, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had also confirmed that there’s a pattern to convert Hindu girls and get them married to Muslim men.
In 2016, many women in Kerala approached Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asking for help to track down their young daughters who had disappeared after marrying young Muslim men and then being converted to Islam.
Bindu, the mother of a girl in Kerala reported that her daughter was lured by a young Muslim man, got married and converted to Islam. After a few months, Bindu was told that her daughter was pregnant but the communication was irregular. One day, the daughter called her mother to tell her that she was in Sri Lanka. The next thing was a call from Afghanistan followed by a long silence. It was then that Bindu approached the Chief Minister.
Police suspected that this girl had gone over with her husband to Syria to join the Islamic State. A local TV channel tracked down at least five more families, with a similar story like that of Bindu, mostly from Malappuram.
In 2017, in the same Malappuram, media house India Today conducted a sting operation on Popular Front of India (PFI), a charitable organization (based in Malappuram) and frequently accused of conducting illegal religious conversions to Islam.
Zainaba, President of Women’s Wing of PFI mentioned in front of the camera that all such allegations were baseless, nobody could compel such conversions or convert people from one religion to another.
However, when she thought that camera was off, she admitted to proselytizing about 5,000 non-Muslim women into Islam. She also explained how conversion centres have to be disguised as charitable or educational establishments in order to prevent any backlash from RSS and explained their modus operandi in detail.
Ahmed Shareef, the founding member of PFI talked about patriotic stuff including India’s freedom struggle in front of the camera. When he thought that the camera was off, he talked about how their goal was first to convert India into the Islamic State and then the entire world. He also talked about receiving funds from the Middle East for their mission.
A detailed report on the above operation is accessible on the India Today website. The report also contains a 10 minutes video of a sting operation that shows the above conversations. Alternatively, one can also watch the full 50 minutes show on this sting operation on the website of India Today or on YouTube.
2018 report in The Pioneer mentioned about cases where “love” is used as a trap to lure girls into forced religious conversions or sexual abuse or both. India has more or less chosen to ignore the issue because of its sensitivity but other countries including the UK are also facing the same. This seems true as the British newspapers from way back in 2007 also reported about –
Police rescuing girls from forced conversions to Islam
recruiters from radical Islamic groups being paid about £5000 for each successful mission
recruiters “stepping up aggressive conversion tactics, especially around universities”
This is not to say that all inter-faith marriages are fake. However, it must be understood that the existence of radical Islamic elements who use deception and proselytizing as a means of expanding their religion is real.
Aberrations like rape or violence may be unwanted anomalies in any civil society but they happen and need to be addressed anyway. Similarly, love-jihad may be perpetrated by only a few individuals and organizations but it does happen.
It’s high time that governments and authorities started addressing it like any other real social issue instead of burying their heads in the sand, pretending that it doesn’t happen, engaging in political correctness driven by the fear of offending Muslims or summarily dismissing it as a fake narrative by Hindu Nationalists.
