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A 24-year-old Sikh lady named Amandeep Kaur was involved in a love jihad case story in Uttar Pradesh India. Sikhs are groups of people that practice Sikhism. It is a religion that originated in the late 15th century present-day Pakistan and is also practiced in India. In India Sikh people have always maintained they are an independent religion despite the influence of Hindus over them.
HOW THE STORY "LOVE JIHAD" BEGAN:
LOVE JIHAD: This is simply a term used by the Hindu people when a case involves a Muslim fellow luring a Hindu woman to marry him in an attempt to convert her to Islam. Amandeep Kaur
shared her story with an Aljazeera worker in a small house she shares with her parents. She said the offense committed by me was a love affair I had with a Muslim man called Usman Qureshi. Our relationship lasted about 2 years but became public after a year when the media and the public started talking about it. The media even offered to help but stood because I am not a victim of love Jihad.
She said our issue was made public in October 2020, when a high court in Uttar Pradesh condemned religious conversion based solely on marriage purposes as "UNACCEPTABLE". The chief minister Yogi Adityanath who has been known for his anti-Muslim hate speech and policies addressed the crowd a day later in Jaunpur district ahead of a state assembly by-election, He said I am committed to ensuring that our women's honor and dignity is protected against LOVE JIHAD and further gave warning to those who have been perpetrators of such act against our sisters to desist from it or face what he called "RAM NAAM SATYA"(Hindu funeral chant).
Adityanath government later passed a law in Feb 2021 which made religious conversion through marriage and deceit an offense punishable by 10 years in prison if found guilty.
Amandeep Kaur told Aljazeera that in June 2021, her retired father was arrested and detained for like 2 hours by the police in connection to her ordeal. I didn't know it was because of that until I got to the police station. Tears dropped from my eyes, saw some men in black attires surrounding my dad claimed to be Bajrang Dal--it is a Hindu nationalist group. I became devastated, couldn't bear the pain anymore, and opted to call my brother. My phone immediately was taken from me by one of the men. The men made it clear to me that they are here to avenge her and that Usman must pay.
A fake Facebook account created was and sent to me with a picture of me and Qureshi said Kaur by a friend. Our private lives were made into political tools. She further said that the fake account that has Usman's picture on it with me was taken long ago when we were still dating and we never got married.
The Bajrang Dal men asked her to file a case against Qureshi but refused and told them he is innocent. The men got angry and abused the hell out of her even promising that they won't allow her and the dad out of this place until she accepts their demand. Kaur said I finally agreed to write and sign so that my dad and I can be allowed to go home which they did after 5 hours of embarrassment.
On June 27, 2021, Qureshi was arrested on a rape case and other offenses labeled against him. These charges were nonbailable according to her. After that my life became something else I can't explain that took a different dimension. My workplace told me to take a break to cool off my head. Six months later she took a lawyer to prove to people that Qureshi was innocent of all the allegations labeled against him and that it was all fabricated.
In march 2021 the implementation of the love jihad law by police in Uttar Pradesh has since registered several 16 cases involving 86 people 79 of them are Muslim. Despite all of this, the state is yet to give details on cases booked under this law. Aljazeera asked a police officer about the Qureshi case and he said they are not aware of the trial proceedings. Kaur said the police only have proof about an identification card in the name Jannat Qureshi which is not me but the daughter of Iqbal Qureshi. I have never been converted.
However, an activist by name Navsharan Singh told Aljazeera that 'LOVE JIHAD' is fake news manufactured to cause hatred among religious communities. Usman Qureshi was finally granted bail after spending 9 months in prison. Kaur said our private lives were made political instruments and our rights were violated. what goes through my mind now is there are so many women out there passing through the same humiliation and harassment.