Uttar Pradesh police have formed a nine-member Special Investigation Team to investigate cases of interfaith marriages in Kanpur, Inspector General Mohit Agarwal said. Agarwal said the SIT has been given 10 days to complete the investigation after a woman’s family claimed she was a victim of “love jihad.”
Radical Hindu groups have popularized the term “love jihad”, which they use to describe what they believe to be an organized conspiracy by Muslim men to trick Hindu women into marrying. In February, the young Interior Minister G Kishan Reddy told Parliament that the term “love jihad” is not defined in law and no central agency has reported such a case.
SIT’s investigation was ordered even as the woman registered her statement at the Tis Hazari court in Delhi, saying that she married of her own free will. The case failed, but Vishwa Hindu Parishad joined the family in organizing a rally in Kidwai Nagar alleging a pattern in five interfaith marriages. As of now, the SIT has 15 such cases to investigate.
Agarwal said that in addition to tracing links between Muslims in such cases, the team would explore the angle of the conspiracy and analyze whether the men were receiving foreign funding.
Deen Dayal Gaur, a local VHP official, said: “They are the result of a well-hatched conspiracy to attack Hindu girls; most of them are minor according to our contributions. “
The SIT is investigating the case of a Muslim man, who allegedly adopted a Hindu identity and allegedly abused a minor after renting a room in his home.
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