Women Beware of 'Love Jihad'
08-22-2017
India's highest court has ruled that Muslim men are pretending to be in love with and marrying non-Muslim women when their true aim is to convert them to Islam and even recruit them into terrorism.
The Hindu nationalist website ShankhNaad reports on the case of Akhila Ashokan, a Hindu woman who married a Muslim man named Shafin Jahan.
India's Supreme Court ruled that the marriage be dissolved and the woman returned to her family where she is now reported to live in isolation.
India's Supreme Court ruled that the marriage be dissolved and the woman returned to her family where she is now reported to live in isolation.
After marrying, Akhila claimed last year to have converted to Islam and changed her name to Hadiya.
India's high court not only annulled the marriage, but also directed India's National Investigation Agency, which investigates terrorism, to assess whether Akhila converted freely to Islam or was part of a "love jihad," where Muslim men allegedly woo and marry women, converting them to Islam, before dumping them.
Some women's rights groups are upset with the decision.
Rebecca Mammen, a senior lawyer in India, told the London Guardian she was "simply stunned" by the supreme court ruling.
"(Marriage) is clearly a consensual relationship between two adults, totally voluntary – the woman has not complained of any coercion – I don't know of any law that allows a court to act in this way," Mammen said.
Jahan, the Muslim husband to the Hindu woman, called the court ruling an "insult to the independence of the women of India as it completely takes away their right to think for themselves."
