Following Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announcement that they are mulling over a new law to criminalise incidents of ‘love jihad’, the father of the Nikita Tomar said the law is long overdue and had it been brought before, his daughter would have been alive today.
“They should’ve taken this decision long back. If this law had been there, my daughter would not have died. All parties should come together & support this decision,” Nikita Tomar’s father said with respect to the Haryana CM’s comment on enacting a new legislation to prevent incidents of ‘love jihad’ in the state.
Nikita, a young college student, was was brutally shot dead in broad daylight by two assailants—Tousif and Rehan on October 26 in Haryana’s Ballabhgarh. Tousif was allegedly stalking and harassing Nikita and had been pressurising her to convert to Islam.
They should’ve taken this decision long back. If this law had been there, my daughter would not have died. All parties should come together & support this decision: Father of the woman who was shot dead in Ballabhgarh on Oct 26, on Haryana govt mulling a law against ‘love jihad’ pic.twitter.com/HjX4ypA0zs
— ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2020
Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar says his government is mulling new legislation to curb ‘love jihad’
After the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh announced strict measures to curb the rampant love jihad cases reported in the state, Manohar Lal Khattar’s government in Haryana announced that they are also planning to introduce a new law to put a restraint to the menace of ‘love jihad’ afflicting the state. ‘Love jihad’ is a term currently being used to describe cases where non-Muslim women, especially young, even minor girls are being systematically targeted by Islamists to convert to Islam either by marriage under false pretences or by force.
Khattar, the chief minister of Haryana, on Sunday said that his government is also mulling over bringing in new legislation to prevent Hindu girls from being lured into relationships by Muslim men using false identity and subsequently forced into conversion.
Khattar was speaking in Karnal on Haryana Day when he hinted at legislating a new law to stop the scourge of love jihad. The Haryana chief minister said that the girl’s killing was “linked to love jihad” and that both the Centre and the state government were taking the issue “very seriously”.
He also added that his government is seeking legal advice on the scope for laws to prevent a recurrence of forced conversions that were sometimes accompanied with unspeakable atrocities and on many occasions led to the killings of the girls, citing the recent incident in Ballabhgarh. “Legal provisions are being contemplated so that the guilty don’t escape and innocents are not punished,” Khattar said.
Yogi Adityanath warns men targeting Hindu women under false names
Earlier on Saturday, Yogi Adityanath issued a stern warning to miscreants indulging in love jihad, saying that his government would soon be enacting a law to curb love jihad. “Allahabad HC said religious conversion isn’t necessary for marriage. Govt will also work to curb ‘Love-Jihad’, we’ll make a law. I warn those who conceal identity & play with our sisters’ respect, if you don’t mend your ways your ‘Ram Naam satya’ journey will begin,” he said.
Haryana and Uttar Pradesh remain among the list of states severely affected by the menace of this so-called love jihad. The decision being mulled over by the NDA governments in the two states comes in the wake of the outrage caused by the horrifying murder of a Hindu girl named Nikita Tomar, who was shot dead by two assailants, Touseef and Rehan, in Haryana’s Ballabhgarh on October 26.
In Uttar Pradesh, several cases have been reported where Hindu girls, often even minors, were targeted and entrapped in relationships by Muslim men pretending to be Hindu.
Horrifying murder of Nikita Tomar by Tousif and Rehan in Haryana’s Ballabhgarh
A terrifying incident of attempted love jihad and forced conversion of non-Muslim into Islam came to the fore with the blood-curdling murder of a 21-year-old student named Nikita Tomar in Mewat. She was shot dead in broad daylight by two men outside the Aggarwal college in Ballabgarh, Faridabad earlier this week.
One of the two assailants, Tausif had been repeatedly harassing her and making advances at Nikita. She had filed a complaint of molestation and harassment against Tausif last month, which was later withdrawn after an understanding between the families. An FIR was filed by Nikita just a day before her murder, against the accused Tausif of again harassing her and trying to convert her to Islam.
The shocking incident was caught on camera, visuals of which had gone instantly viral in the aftermath of the brutal killing. Tousif and his accomplice Rehan were arrested by the police. It is also pertinent to note that the accused had earlier abducted the girl in 2018.
Many cases of targeting and forced conversions
The killing of Nikita Tomar for turning down the advances of Touseef is not a stray incident of attempted love jihad and forced conversions plaguing Haryana and in particular Mewat. A norm had emerged in the region where Hindu women, including Dalits, are increasingly targeted by Muslim men, who kidnap the girls and women and commit unspeakable atrocities on them. Besides this, Haryana’s Mewat is also known for being a hotbed of organised crime, cattle smuggling, among other things.
You can read how the Mewat region of Haryana has become flourishing grounds for illegal activities here.