Karnataka to hold meeting on ‘love jihad’

A day after the Karnataka High Court directed the State and Kerala to probe the ‘love jihad movement’ where young non-Muslim girls are allegedly trapped into marriage and converted into Islam, the Government on Thursday decided to convene a meeting of top police officials soon to discuss ways of countering it.

About two to three ‘love jihad’ incidents had come to Government’s notice and “it looks serious”, Karnataka Home Minister VS Acharya told reporters here.

The meeting of police officials would be held either on Friday or the day after, he said, adding, Karnataka has written to Kerala drawing its attention towards the ‘movement’ as it had inter-state ramifications. The State High Court during a hearing on a habeas corpus petition filed by the parents of a girl, who allegedly married a Muslim boy after converting to Islam in Kerala’s Mallapuram district, on Wednesday directed Karnataka and Kerala to jointly probe the ‘love jihad movement’.

The girl’s father had alleged in his petition that she was confined in a madrasa after the marriage. The court had asked police to submit a report on the episode within three weeks and said the girl should return to her parents in Chamarajanagar district in Karnataka by then.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Police on Thursday told the High Court there are reasons to suspect that there are attempts to persuade girls to convert to Islam after they fall in love with Muslim boys but no organisation called ‘love jihad’ has been identified so far in the State.

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