HOW SAD IT IS, IF WE REALLY LOVE TO BELIEVE THAT THESE EDUCATED HINDU
GIRLS ARE HARE WITTED AND LESS BRAINY THAN THEIR PARENTS, POLICE AND
THEIR 'JEHADI' PREDATORS, TO BE CHEATED BY LOVE..!
OR ,
DOES IT RATHER SUGGEST SOMETHING LIKE AN O-C-D (Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder) ROOTED IN (lack of)LOVE, FAMILY AND SECURITY?
Protectionist attitude toward women in Kerala is now seeing the
limits of absurdity.
What is so much there to probe about love affairs between people of
different faiths?
What is there to probe into cases of conversion from on faith to other
so long as proselytizing is perfectly recognized as constitutional and
legal in secular India?
You convince me by reason (or even by giving me soaps) that Islam or
Christianity is a better faith than Hiduism; I start thinking that
Hinduism is really not good for ME and take a decision to covert as a
Muslim or a Christian.
How can then one assume that all this happen only because of inflow of
mysterious foreign funds plus destabilizing motivations linked with
it?
Why the mysterious inflow of foreign funds, rather,is not checked by
routine regulatory measures than by resorting to ways producing hypes
and instilling fears in the minds of people about forcible conversion?
True that parents of at least two Hindu girls allegedly lured by the
activists of so called 'Love Jihadis' did come up with habeous corpus
writs following the disappearance of these girls from their houses.
It may also be true that the girls ultimately decide to go back to
their parents on the basis of own choice, in a court of law.
But why should this be a reason for widespread fear about girls of
mature age being trapped into 'Love Jihad'? What is the connection
between love, choice of life partner on the one side, and the
interventions by the parents of girls,the police and the court on the
other in making out such inter religion love marriages involving
conversions as a huge security threat for the entire nation?
Would it not have made more sense for the media to take up such
stories beyond the 'user friendly' but boundlessly ridiculous new
coinage in the lexicon of hate politics like "Love Jihad"?
The hate response to the so called Love Jihad by the VHP and the
obscurantist Durgavahini is also being enthusiastically propagated by
a section of the catholic church, SNDP Gen Secretary and a section of
the Malayalam press. Campaigning in favour of imposing more parental
controls on educated Hindu girls of mature age, etc are proposed as
solutions to the phantom of Love Jihad . Going by reports, moral
policing perhaps even uglier than the one resorted by Sri Ram Sene in
Karnataka is
to set to take off in Kerala under the patronage of VHP, Christian
Churches, SNDP and similar institutions.Fortunately, it seems less
probable that women will be attracted to these hate campaigns to the
point of erasing whatever little assertions they try to make on
citizenships
Please read four more documents here on the topic :-
1. For the past two weeks, the entire JNU community has seen an
intense mobilisation against the latest MHRD circular of Sep 12. At a
time when students are fighting for their fundamental right to a
quality and affordable education, the ABVP has yet again shown its
true colours by not just completely ignoring the ongoing student
movement, but actively using its energies to build a viciously
communal campaign. The ABVP’s highly offensive pamphlet yesterday was
typical of its politics and ideology - revealing clearly that the sole
agenda of the ABVP on campus and in society is to spread communal
hatred and curb the freedom of women in keeping with its fascist
norms.
The pamphlet tries to whip up a communal frenzy by revealing
“evidence” of a massive well-organised racket - a “Love Jihad” - whose
purpose is to brainwash gullible Hindu girls into loving and marrying
fundamentalist Muslim men and subsequently becoming “Islamic
terrorists” waging war against the Indian state. This entire communal
campaign draws its “evidence” from observations of the Kerala High
Court in two cases related to “abduction” of Hindu girls. The
fantastic revelations of a massive conspiracy to abduct Hindu girls
and get them married off to “jihadis” (according to the ABVP, 4000
girls have been entrapped till date) are based on the sole evidence of
a single witness - a girl who was forced by the Kerala High Court to
leave her husband and stay with her parents. The girl apparently
revealed the modus operandi of the Love Jihad after a week’s stay at
her parents’ home. We have not forgotten that in innumerable cases of
inter caste/inter religious marriages, where the girl has voluntarily
married, her parents have falsely accused her of being an “abducted”,
“brainwashed” minor, and have pressurized her into denying the
relationship. In the Nitish Katara case and Rizwanur Rehman case for
instance, the girls (Bharati Yadav and Priyanka Todi) eventually
refused to complain against their fathers and brothers, even after
overwhelming evidence that cold-blooded murders had been committed. In
several cases, girls are even pressurized into accusing the boy of
abducting or seducing them under force. In this specific case, the
case has not even been heard in the Kerala High Court. There is not a
shred of evidence of any “Love Jihad”; it has not been established in
a court of law if the girls’ accusations are in fact true or are
obtained under coercion from their families. Far from being
established, no investigation has even taken place. Yet the court is
passing sweeping orders and encouraging communal myths. Such a
travesty of justice is a shameful assault on the democratic and
secular fabric of the entire state machinery.
In such a situation it is imperative that the Home Ministry take a
strong position, and refute the Kerala HC orders and challenge it in
the Supreme Court.
The Kerala High Court’s orders in this case are highly irresponsible,
to say the very least. Let us not forget that the HC’s orders come
close on the heels of another order passed by the Congress-led
Maharashtra government that essentially sees any marriage between
Hindu women and Muslim men as an offence. The Maharashtra Minister of
State for Home has ordered a CID investigation into such marriages on
a demand made by two BJP MLAs who smelt a “conspiracy to increase the
Muslim population’’ in the growing incidence of such marriages in the
state’s rural areas. Such “enquiries” into every Hindu-Muslim marriage
– be it by Kerala HC or Maharashtra Home Ministry – will be violative
of Constitutional right to privacy and choice in matters of marriage,
enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution.
Without the backing of even basic evidence, the Kerala High Court is
feeding the communal common sense prevalent in society - thus
providing the ideal justification for the likes of the Sri Ram Sene
and Babu Bajrangi types to pose as ‘nationalists’ fighting ‘jihadis’!
Already, Babu Bajrangi and Sadhvi Pragya project the abduction
(‘rescue’) of Hindu girls who have married outside community by
choice, as a ‘nationalist’ act. Why is it that there is no Court
order, no action from the Home Ministry to ban Khaap panchayats and
the Sri Ram Sene? How come no enquiry is ordered into every suspicious
case of honour killing?
Brahminical patriarchy has for long regarded women of upper castes as
‘gateways’ or points of breach into the caste system – requiring
careful surveillance to preserve caste ‘purity’ – and this obsessive
concern with policing female sexuality has become a stubborn feature
across caste groups. There is widespread consent within civil society
to regard choice, particularly when articulated by a woman as
disruptive of the whole social order. It is the existence of such
consent for obsessive control of women’s sexual choice, such
widespread fear of a ‘terrible tear’ inflicted by women’s free choice,
that sustains and ‘naturalises’ Bajrangi’s mass abduction spree as a
patriotic act. This anxiety unfortunately extends even beyond the
Hindu community – all communities share it. For instance, the even
some Christian groups in Kerala have unfortunately reacted to the
communal bogey of a “Love Jihad” by joining forces with VHP and
warning Christian families to police their ‘wards’ more closely.
This agenda of spreading a campaign of a “Love Jihad” is inherently
anti-woman and communal. Note that the “enquiries” ordered by the
Kerala High Court do not cover cases of Hindu men marrying Muslim
girls! The whole agenda is about demonising Muslim men AND about
controlling the sexuality of Hindu women. The laughable notion of
‘Love Jihad’ is a deliberate ploy to further the age-old Sangh agenda
of attack on women’s freedom of choice in marriage, right to convert,
and demonizing of Muslim men as ‘lustful’. The likes of Babu Bajrangi
and Pramod Muthalik openly advocate attacks on women who wear jeans,
choose their partners, visit pubs and dare to challenge patriarchal
strictures. During the previous Vidhan Sabha elections in UP, the BJP
had distributed shamefully communal CDs that were carefully engineered
to create the bogey of the ever-deceitful, violent, anti-woman Muslim
youth whose main agenda is to coerce, deceive and rape gullible Hindu
women.
It is high time that we tell the ABVP: we have seen through your
‘jihad’ bogey. “Love Jihad” is merely the new brand name of your old
agenda of ban on jeans and Sri-Ram-Sene-type assaults on young women’s
lifestyles and freedom to form friendships and love. It is high time
women not just in JNU but all over the country tell the ABVP: we will
love and marry according to our choice. We defy your diktats – just as
we defy the khaap panchayats who tell us we are whores for marrying
according to our choices. We will resist any attempt be it by Court or
any government to police our freedom, or to bring our loves and
marriages, irrespective of community, under any scanner. We demand a
law against coercion in marriage, a law that will
declare it illegal for any group or individual, be they khaap
panchayats or Sangh outfits or parents like D P Yadav or Ashok Todi to
coerce adults in matters of marriage;
spells out punishments for diktats and death sentences issued by
khaap panchayats, and also for justifications of such ‘executions’;
that spells out punishments for concerned police and administration
authorities who fail to protect couples and take preventive action
against those who issue death sentences
that orders a magisterial enquiry to be ordered in every case of
suspected honour killing
that spells out punishments for parents who falsely accuse women of
being ‘minors’
spell out punishments for those who impose ‘dress codes’ on women or
indulge in any kind of threats or violence on women in the name of
‘culture’ or ‘honour’
Forces like the ABVP and the YFE have made it a habit to bring out
such communal and casteist pamphlets at regular intervals,
particularly when the student community is engaged in a struggle for
its basic rights. AISA warns the ABVP and the YFE that such attempts
to vitiate the atmosphere of the campus through such obnoxious
pamphleteering will be robustly resisted tooth and nail by the
democratic sections of the JNU community.
(2.)
"We have witnessed such inhuman acts in the form of propaganda in
Gujarat in the wake of carnage, that Muslim boys are luring Adivasi
girls. There Babu Bajarangi, who was also a major participant in
carnage, formed a goon-gang. This gang attacked couples and forced
them to separate if they belonged to different religions. All this is
presented as defense of religion! We have the case of Rijwan Ur Rehman
where Priyanka Todi, daughter of an affluent and powerful business
magnate also turned around under emotional blackmail from parents and
relatives. Later Rijwan Ur Rehman was forced to commit suicide. In all
such cases the role of police, state machinery, has been totally
against the spirit and provisions of law, the protectors of law acting
to support the things totally against the law."
(article by Ram Puniyani):-
http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/11/myth-of-love-jihad.html
(3)
*BEFORE THE HONOURABLE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE, KERALA*
Grievance petition submitted by Smt. Sruthi P R, wife of Sri Ayoob V, now
residing at Valluvanattu house, Copper Villas, Chembumukku, Kakkanad PO,
Ernakulam – 682030 (permanent residence at Valassery house, Chellithodu,
Punnappala PO, Wandoor via, Malappuram Dt. – 679328).
Sir,
I am a native of Trivandrum and Hindu Nair by birth, now I am the wife of
Ayoob V whose address is stated above. While I was studying for B. Tech in
Trivandrum, I happened to know and study about Islam. After understanding
more about Islam, I embraced the religion voluntarily.
My husband has been employed as head of technical department, in
International Shipping Bureau, Cochin. We have been living as husband and
wife ever since the marriage took place on May, ‘09. I have been leading a
happy and contented life along with my husband beyond all my expectations at
the above shown address at Cochin.
However, in connection with so called ‘love jihad’, hue and cry, police
personnel approached the husband’s Company referred above and threatened the
Company Authorities in the absence of my husband by stating that he is a
member of ‘love jihad’ group. They have also scolded them by asking “why you
have deputed him abroad?” The police have also threatened the Company
Authorities by stating that, if my husband has not returned from deputation,
Company will be held responsible as if my husband has committed any grave
and gruesome crime or any act against the interest of our Nation.
Actually my husband was deputed by the above referred company for attending
a Ship at Algeria. To my knowledge, my husband was a responsible employee of
that shipping company. He was well paid and he was drawing a salary of
37,500+ Other Allowances / month. The company has granted advance increments
considering the meritorious service of my husband
In view of the threatening words of the police officials under your control
the Company Authorities have decided to terminate the service of my husband
and on 17/10/2009 (the same day of his return from abroad after
satisfactorily completion of the duties assigned to him by the company) have
directed my husband to offer his resignation voluntarily or else they will
terminate him from the service. They have also directed to return the
articles such as laptop, ID cards, stamp, hologram, visiting cards etc. as
soon as possible. If the Company by fearing the threatening words of the
police officials terminates the service of my husband, we will be put to
irreparable loss and mental agony, apart from huge monitory loss not due to
any fault of my husband.
In fact there is no group like ‘Love Jihad’ as misconceived by police
officials and Honorable High Court of Kerala. It is the creation of the
media and the anti social elements so as to damage the communal harmony
existing in our State. I may draw the kind attention of your good self that
several girl students and ladies of Christian and Muslim community have been
living along with men of Hindu and Christian communities. But nobody has
raised any hue and cry like the ‘Love Jihad’ now raised.
My husband is totally innocent in this episode. After I converted to Muslim
religion my well wishers found out my husband and arranged our marriage. He
has never met me before I embraced Islam. He cannot be blamed for my
conversion to Islam religion. I have embraced Islam after I obtained
majority. My parents and relatives have neither made any complaints before
police officials nor before any court.
As I am major and an educated lady holding B. Tech degree in Electronics and
Telecommunication, I have got every right to believe and profess any
religion of my choice voluntarily. Nobody can be penalized for my voluntary
act. My husband is also not liable to be penalized or expelled from his
service for the reason that he has chosen to marry me, protect me and
maintain me as a responsible husband. My parents are also having no
grievance in this matter.
In these circumstances I request that your good self may kindly enquire into
the matter immediately and give necessary direction to the Company
Authorities not to penalize or terminate my husband from his service for the
reason that he has married me.
Yours faithfully,
Sruthi P R
(4)
Article by Kavita Krishnan
of All India Progressive Womens Association(AIPWA).
`Love Jehad' is a new phrase coined by the Sangh Parivar – that is
being echoed in courtrooms and cabinets across the country. The Sangh
Parivar has claimed that thousands of Hindu girls are being lured by
Muslim boys into conversion to Islam and recruitment into `jehadi'
outfits. And what is extremely worrying is that the Kerala HC,
Karnataka HC and even the Maharashtra Government have expressed the
same sentiments.
The Kerala HC made its comments on `Love Jehad' in the context of two
cases where Hindu women had eloped to marry Muslim men. The women's
parents had filed complaints claiming the women had been abducted, and
the Kerala High Court ordered them to stay with their parents for a
week. At the end of the week one of the women had given a statement
claiming she had been brainwashed into adopting Islam and shown
`jehadi' CDs. Based on this single statement, the Kerala HC chose to
order the Kerala Government and the Union Home Ministry to probe what
it alleged was a nationwide `Love Jehad' racket. Following this, the
Karnataka HC passed similar observations in the case of a 23-year old
woman civil engineer who told the Court clearly that she had converted
to Islam of her own accord and wished to marry her lover Ashgar and
live with him. The HC chose to suspect the veracity of the woman's
statement, ordered her to stay with her parents, and ordered a probe
by the Karnataka police saying the matter had `national ramifications
concerning security, besides the question of unlawful trafficking of
women.' Earlier, the Congress-NCP Government of Maharashtra had passed
an order to investigate into every case of Muslim men marrying Hindu
women, alleging a trafficking racket, but had to withdraw this probe
in the face of protest.
The Kerala State DGP has submitted a report to the Kerala HC declaring
that there is no evidence of any `Love Jehad' movement anywhere in the
country. Karnataka's Dakshina Kanada district police has also busted
the myth of `Love Jehad.' Recently when Anitha (22) went missing in
June this year, Sangh Parivar organisations claimed that she was
forcibly converted to Islam by a Pakistan-backed, professional
`jehadist lover'. The police, however, established that Anitha was
poisoned to death by Mohan Kumar, a serial killer arrested on October
21, who allegedly confessed to having murdered her and robbed 17 other
women by luring them with offers of marriage. A top police official
told an English daily: "By cracking the Anitha case, we hoped to put
an end to this `Love Jehad' controversy once and for all….certain
fundamentalist groups that have been carrying out vigilante attacks
against inter-community couples for several years have now started
using the `Love Jehad' theory to justify their attacks."
Let us recall that in innumerable cases of inter caste/inter religious
marriages, where the girl has voluntarily married, her parents have
falsely accused her of being an "abducted", "brainwashed" minor, and
have pressurized her into denying the relationship. Nari Niketans in
every city are full of adult women imprisoned for months because their
parents have accused them of being minors; the Nari Niketans separate
the women from their husbands but freely allow their own parents to
meet and coerce them. In the Nitish Katara case and Rizwanur Rehman
case, the girls (Bharati Yadav and Priyanka Todi) eventually refused
to complain against their fathers and brothers, even after
overwhelming evidence that their lovers had been killed or forced to
commit suicide in cold-blood. The Kerala and Karnataka HCs has
absolutely no right to order adult women to stay with their parents;
statements taken by such women in forced parental custody are certain
to be taken under coercion, and the Courts are highly irresponsible to
make such statements the basis for sweeping orders that perpetuate
communal myths without a shred of evidence. Such "enquiries" into
every marriage of a Hindu man with a Muslim woman – be it by Courts or
the Maharashtra Government –violate the Constitutional right to
privacy and choice in matters of marriage, enshrined in Article 21 of
the Constitution, and upheld by numerous Supreme Court verdicts.
Let us also remember that the Sangh Parivar leader Babu Bajrangi of
Gujarat boasts of having `rescued' thousands of women who have married
outside the caste or community, and forced them to give up their
husbands. Sadhvi Pragya's organization too used to indulge in the same
activity. And the Sri Ram Sene in the Dakshin Kanada district has
indulged in innumerable attacks on Muslim and Hindu women who befriend
each other – one young 15-year old schoolgirl even committed suicide
after public humiliation by the Sene. The Courts' observations provide
a shot in the arm for the Sri Ram Senes and Babu Bajrangis – they can
now claim their attacks on women are acts of `nationalism.' We wonder
why neither the Courts never pass orders to ban Khaap panchayats and
the Sri Ram Sene; why Courts never order enquiries into suspected
cases of honour killing, but the same Courts are so eager to fan up
communal and anti-women flames by making irresponsible comments about
`Love Jehad'?
`Love Jehad' is a communal fantasy – a new pretext to attack the
freedom of women to love and marry by choice, and to witch-hunt Muslim
men. In the name of `Love Jehad,' every Rizwan-ur-rehman can be
branded a terrorist; every Priyanka's right to choose can be denied on
the grounds that she is `brain-washed' by jehadis; every police
officer as well as every Pramod Muthalik justified in harassing the
Rizwans and Priyankas in the name of `national security.'
Women all over the country will certainly defy and resist any attempt
– be it by Court or any government to police their freedom, or to
bring their loves and marriages, irrespective of community, under any
scanner.
kavitakrish73@gmail.com
(The writer is Secretary, All India Progressive Women's Association - AIPWA)
http://www.countercurrents.org/krishnan261009.htm
.
--
You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot
build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you
will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a
whole.
-AMBEDKAR
http://venukm.blogspot.com
http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur
http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com
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