Love Jihad, also called Romeo Jihad, is defined as an activity under which young Muslim men and boys target young girls belonging to non-Muslim communities for conversion to Islam by feigning love.
The term “love jihad” rose prominence in the year 2009 is a combination of the English word ‘love’ and the Arabic word ‘jihad’. Love hereby denotes as to accomplish love with the help of jihad and hence is deceptive. ‘Jihad’ literally means making a determined effort, striving or struggling to oppose something or to achieve a noble goal. It is done for the welfare or development of community.
The origin of the word is unknown but attributed to the far-right groups. There is no official evidence supporting these claims.
The concept rose to national attention in India in 2009 with alleged conversions in Kerala and Mangalore. In November 2009, DGP Jacob Punnoose stated there was no organization whose members lured girls by feigning love with the intention of converting. He told the Kerala High Court that 3 out of 18 reports he received expressed some doubts about the tendency. However, in absence of solid proof, the investigations were still continuing. In December 2009, Justice K.T. Sankaran who refused to accept Punnoose’s report concluded from a case diary that there were indications of forceful conversions and stated it was clear from police reports there was a “concerted effort” to convert women with “blessings of some outfits”. The court while hearing the bail plea of two accused in “love jihad” cases stated that there had been 3,000-4,000 such conversions in past four years. he Kerala High Court in December 2009 stayed investigations in the case, granting relief to the two accused though it criticised police investigations. The investigation was closed by Justice M. Sasidharan Nambiar following Punnoose’s statements that no conclusive evidence could be found for the existence of “love jihad”.
Later in 2012, Kerala Police declared it as a “campaign with no substance”. Subsequently, a case was initiated against the website where fake posters of Muslim organizations offering money to Muslim youths for luring and trapping women were found. From 2009 to May 2017, many allegations, kinda proof by the Hindu organization presented on the existence of love jihad. Politicians also somehow used for their political interests.
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