Kochi/Bangalore: The Kerala High
Court on Monday expressed dissatisfaction over a report submitted by
the Director-General of Police (DGP), Jacob Punnoose, on ‘Love
Jihad’ wherein girls from other religious backgrounds were allegedly
lured into marriage and converted to Islam.
The
court directed the DGP to produce the reports on the basis of which
he had prepared the report, in a sealed cover, by November 11.
According to the report, Justice K.T. Sankaran observed that some
answers furnished in the DGP’s report were ‘vague’ and it appeared
that the statements in different paragraphs did not ‘reconcile’ with
each other.
The DGP,
in a statement on October 22, had told the Court that there were
reasons to suspect attempts to persuade non-Muslim girls to convert
to Islam after they fell in love with Muslim boys, but that no
organisation called ‘Love Jihad’ had been identified so far in
Kerala.
Families of a Hindu and a Christian woman, who married their Muslim
classmates in a Pathanamthitta college and converted to Islam,
claimed few Muslim groups in the state were luring non-Muslim girls
to convert "in an organised manner".
Early this month, Justice K.T. Shankaran, rejecting the anticipatory
bail plea of the two Muslim men, asked Director General of Police
Jacob Punnoose to conduct a detailed study on 'love jihad'.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka government on Monday ordered a Criminal
Investigation Department (CID) probe into ‘Love Jihad’ cases
following a recent Karnataka High Court order to investigate such
incidents.
Home
Minister V.S. Acharya, who chaired a high-level meeting of police
officers here, told presspersons that the DGP, CID, had been asked
to conduct the investigation and submit a report in the next 15
days. The meeting discussed the alleged incidents of ‘Love Jihad’
reported from Karnataka and Kerala.
Dr.
Acharya said a decision had been taken to collect more information
about the alleged funding, support and the existence of ‘Love
Jihad.’ Besides collecting information about missing girls, the DGP
would also gather information on the alleged practice, including
those reported from Kerala, and submit a report to the government
suggesting measures to curb it. After receiving the report, the
government would decide the action to be initiated.
The
Karnataka High Court, during a hearing on a habeas corpus petition
filed by the parents of a girl who married a Muslim boy from Kannur
district and was allegedly confined in a madrasa in Kerala’s
Mallapuram town, had directed the Karnataka and Kerala governments
to probe jointly the jihad and file a report before November 13.
Meanwhile, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties has decided to
file a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Karnataka
High Court’s order asking a woman, who had converted to Islam to
marry a Muslim man from Kerala, to return to her parents’ home until
the case was probed.
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