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A fast-track court in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, issued a 42-page ruling explaining the term ‘love jihad’ after sentencing a 25-year-old Muslim man to life imprisonment, even though the woman involved had retracted her testimony, The Times of India reported.
The 22-year-old woman had withdrawn her statement and claimed that her original testimony was made under pressure from “right-wing individuals” on her parents.
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Additional district and sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar reportedly categorised the case as an example of ‘love jihad’, stating that such cases involve “deception and religious conversion.”
The judge — who had previously called for a videographic survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi and the sealing of its ablution area in 2022 — suggested that ‘love jihad’ aimed to alter demographics and stir international tensions, driven by radical factions within a religious group, and referred to it as the fraudulent conversion of non-Muslim women to Islam through deceitful marriages, according to the report.
He further commented that unlawful conversions were carried out by extremists who either participated in or supported these activities, although these actions did not represent the entire religious community. He added that ‘love jihad’ operations required significant financial backing, and in this particular case, it was likely that foreign funding was involved.
The origins of the case
The case began in May 2023 when the woman filed a complaint with the police, alleging that the accused, Mohd Aalim Ahmad, then 23, had posed as Anand Kumar when they first met at a coaching class in Bareilly in 2022. They married in a temple on March 13, 2022, but the woman later claimed she had been deceived about his true identity.
Aalim faced multiple charges, including rape under Section 376-2n, criminal intimidation under Section 506, and voluntarily causing harm under Section 323 of the IPC. His father, Mohd Sabir, was also charged with criminal intimidation under Section 504 and received a two-year prison sentence. The woman testified against Aalim on July 31, 2024, but later failed to appear in court. When a warrant was issued, she was brought to court on September 19, 2024, where she reversed her statement in support of Aalim. However, the court dismissed her new testimony, citing concerns that she had been influenced by the accused.
The woman admitted, “I filed the FIR after my parents were pressured by right-wing groups.”
In his order, the judge pointed out that the woman had been living independently in a rented house and using an expensive Android phone, despite being unemployed, raising suspicions of foreign financial involvement.
The judge’s ruling concluded that the woman had been living separately in a rented house and was using an expensive Android phone, despite being unemployed, raising concerns of foreign financial involvement.
The judge emphasised, “Love jihad requires a significant amount of money. Therefore, it cannot be denied that love jihad is funded by foreign funding in this case.”
First Published: Oct 02 2024 | 4:20 PM IST
