Kanpur Police Say They Have Found No Evidence Of Conspiracy (Representational)
Kanpur / New Delhi:
Eleven of the 14 interfaith marriages in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, involved criminality, but there is no evidence of conspiracy or foreign funding, Kanpur police said, contradicting claims about the so-called “jihad of love.” Over the past few months, top ministers from several BJP-ruled states have vowed to enact laws to combat “love jihad,” a term coined by right-wing groups who claim that Muslim men enter into relationships with non-Muslim women to convert them for the strength. This, right-wing groups insist, is part of a conspiracy.
So far, Karnataka, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh are among several states that have promised laws against the jihad of love, despite the BJP-led central government admitting in parliament in February that the term is not defined by law. existing and no case has been reported by anyone. Central agency.
In Uttar Pradesh, where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has issued warnings about “last rites” to “Love Jihad” practitioners, 14 cases were analyzed in Kanpur, collected over the past two years.
The latest version from the police appears to contradict statements made to NDTV just three weeks ago by the head of the Special Investigation Team investigating the cases. Half of the 14 cases had collapsed and a final closure report was being filed, the officer said.
“We compiled the cases from the last two years in Kanpur. There were 14 of those cases. In some cases, a final report has been submitted. Out of 14, there are only seven that we are still investigating,” said Vikas Pandey, commissioning officer. of the cases, he had told NDTV. “In those (seven closed cases) we saw that there was nothing. The girls knew them. On that basis the final reports have been filed,” he added.
Today, Kanpur Police Inspector General Mohit Agarwal, Mr. Pandey’s senior, told the media that the SIT had found evidence of crimes in 11 of the 14 cases they investigated.
“They found 11 cases in which a crime was committed and 11 people were imprisoned. In three cases, the SIT determined that the girls were over 18 years old and said they exercised their free will … In these cases, they are not taking measures, “Mr. Agarwal told media in Kanpur.
When asked what crime was committed in the 11 cases, Agarwal said that in three cases the men had “given false names to persuade the girls and the girls say they later found out that these men are of a different religion.” There were also cases where the girls were minors, police said.
However, Kanpur police say they have found no evidence of a conspiracy or organized effort.
“Four men out of 11 are such that they used to talk to each other and had relationships with girls of another religion, but so far there is no angle of foreign funding. So far in the SIT investigation we have not found evidence of a conspiracy or that these people did something in an organized effort, but it is true that they changed their names and, in many cases, established relationships with underage girls, “Agarwal told the media.
Two weeks ago, NDTV closely examined three of the 14 cases. In two cases, the women said that their Muslim partners did not force them to marry or convert. In another case, neighbors claimed that the boy and girl were in a relationship, before it turned sour.
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