The Indian police in Uttar Pradesh arrested a Muslim teenager for walking home with his former classmate, a Dalit girl, from a birthday party after a case was registered for ‘love jihad’ under the state’s new ‘anti-conversion’ law. The boy has been in the custody for a week.
The Love Jihad law in India is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory alleging that Muslim men target women belonging to non-Muslim communities for conversion to Islam by feigning love.
According to details, the 16-year-old girl has constantly rubbished the allegations of ‘love jihad‘, telling the police that the boy was a friend of hers.
“I have told this to the magistrate and I will say this again. Those men had a problem with me walking with my friend. They made videos of me and are now calling it love jihad. I did nothing wrong. I went of my own free will.”
The complaint was allegedly registered by the girl’s father and stated that the accused “induced the girl to elope with him” with the “intention to marry and convert her”.
However, the girl’s father has denied filing any complaint.
“I trust my daughter completely. What wrong did she do? Why must she be made part of politics? Is it unlawful for a boy and a girl to walk together now?”
As per details, the two were walking home from a friend’s birthday party around 10 pm on December 14 when they were allegedly chased by a group of right-wing Hindu men, beaten with sticks and questioned. When the group came to know that the two belong to different religions, they forced them to go to a police station.
The Muslim boy works as a welder’s apprentice in Dehradun. The police say he is 18 years old but his family says is 17. They have no documents to prove his age.
“The accused is in judicial custody. If he is a minor, they will have to produce documents to show that. We have invoked appropriate sections in this case after questioning the girl and based on her father’s complaint,” Station House Officer, Dhampur Arun Kumar told The Indian Express.
