Love Jihad: Kerala Reports 90 Cases Of Forced Conversions To NIA

Even while it opposes a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into ‘love jihad’, the Kerala government has reported at least 90 cases of forced conversions and luring of women into interfaith marriages to the agency, Times of India has reported.

The central investigating agency has launched a probe into these cases. It has so far recorded statements of two Hindu girls, Athira Nambiar from Palakkad and a second Athira from Kasargod. They, according to the daily’s report, attest to having been lured to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men.

Islamist outfits Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) were involved in the ‘indoctrination’ and ‘luring’ of these women, the report cites an unnamed officer of the NIA as saying.

These groups were also involved in the case of Akhila Asokan alias Hadiya. The Supreme Court had recently ordered an NIA probe into the case.

"In Hadiya's case, her father's fears that she was forced into marriage with Shafin Jahan to be taken out of the country to join the so called Islamic State was found to be without basis as she did not even have a passport," an NIA officer told the daily.

Hadiya and Athira Nambiar, both from Palakkad, had common PFI and SDPI motivators. This connection points to a wider network of motivators belonging to the two organisations, under government scanner for having terror links. The Home Ministry is contemplating banning PFI under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

According to other accounts, including a report accessed by Times Now, 105 Hindu women have been converted in the last one year.