India has been noting an increasing trend of inter-religious marital & conjugal relations by unfair means & undesirable fates thereof. Being alarmed & rattled by different incidents in the recent past like those of Nikita Tomar of Haryana, Rahul Rajput of Delhi, different State Assemblies of India like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Assam have considered to bring in Legislation against what is commonly known as Love Jihad. While the term sounds embarrassing & is also politically debated, ground facts about such incidents remain disturbing. While pious terms like love & marriage are facing denigration being portrayed as ‘Jihad’, heinous crimes & pathetic incidents happen on the ground in the name of LOVE.
While marrying Muslim boys, non-Muslim girls allegedly are often forced to adopt Islam pre or post marriage. After marriage, the girl often reportedly be physically tortured, sometimes even slain as a consequence of marital conflicts arising out of cultural disparity between Muslim society & that of Non-Muslims. Post marital fate of such girls often be unlike their pre-marital dreams when they fall in love with Muslim boys either knowing the boys’ true identity or unknowingly. Such marriages often be precursor to women trafficking. West Bengal, being no. 1 State in women trafficking in India, experiences cases of inter-faith marriages that end up in trafficking of the girls. Bordering Districts of West Bengal are prone to such crimes. The proposed legislation is bringing in penal provisions against those inter-faith marriages which are being done through unfair means or by fraudulence. The bill would also perhaps empower family courts to reject such marriages where either the bride or the groom adopted unfair means such as hiding true identity of self before entering into a relationship of love. The bill would also keep provisions for either pair of parents (bride’s/groom’s) to deny such marriages.
While a number of inter-faith marriages happen through unfair means, a good number of them happen normally too. Many inter-faith marriages are done not by fraudulence but out of genuine attraction towards each other. Hindu girls often fall in love with Muslim boys & vice versa. Precise statistics of inter-faith marriages of India are not available. However, tracking day-to-day information of different places in India, a significant number of incidents are found where inter-faith relationships do not end up in a stable & viable marriage. Hence, instead of finding what percentage of Indian marriages are inter-faith ones (one such study had been done in 2005), an exclusive survey appears necessary to find out what are the general stability & end fates of inter-faith relationships in India. Such a sociological survey has not yet been done.
As per a study that used data of third round of National Family Health Survey (2005-06) having sample size of 43102 married couples, it was found that only 2.1 percent of Indian marriages were inter-religious. The prime objectives of the study was to understand the spatial patterns and determinants of inter-caste and inter-religious marriages in India which revealed that Indian society, in general, was not open to inter-faith marriages. Against the backdrop of such social attitude, marriage of Hindu girls to Muslim boys is supposed to result in loss of strength of Hindu society resulting in slow change of demography. The girl, by giving birth to children who, by default, assume father’s religion, facilitates further change in demography. In cases where Hindu boys marry Muslim girls, the boys are generally known to be heckled by the Muslim society & are often slain or converted to Islam. It is an embarrassing truth that aggressive regimentation in the name of religion is more pronounced amongst Muslims than in Non-Muslims. However, though ‘Love Jihad’ sounds awkward & there remains no mal-intention of religious expansionism in many Muslim boys who marry Hindu girls for love, such inter-religious marriages often attain tragic ends & don’t be perceived positively by the society. Such marriages are apprehended to result in very slow & steady change in demography.
For the sake of natural justice & also keeping in mind the prevalent mood of the society, it is needed to prevent the perception of change in demography of India. People may argue that a meagre percentage of Indian marriages are inter-faith ones. Hence, change in demography out of such marriages is infeasible. Even if such arguments are tenable, perception of change in demography exists in common Indian psyche. Hence, legal provisions need to exist so that inter-faith marriages may not be looked upon as a means of religious expansionism. This may be done to protect the dignity of all religious sects of Indian society. Noting the kind of atrocities that often result from such inter-religious marriages, legal provisions need to be kept to check & prevent such untoward incidents. Suitable changes may be made in the Special Marriage Act too suggestions whereof are given hereafter.
Keeping in mind that no one can stop a young adult boy or a girl to fall in love with one another and / or marry each other, may we think of bringing in following legal changes?
- making post-marital religious conversion null n void
- making marriage of converted individuals to a person of such converted religion illegitimate
- may children born out of inter-religious couples inherit Mother’s religion by default instead of the Father’s? Law may arrange for special provisions for children born out of inter-religious marriages under Special Marriage Act. This would be a leap towards women-empowerment. Those women who would walk out of their religious cult for love and marriage, may have their children inheriting their own religion. This would empower such women & provide them social security. Such provisions of law may have sole prerogative to prevent religious expansionism through marriage which is a perceived truth in India. The objective of the State may logically be to address such perception of the society & to conserve her own cult & value system. This is in conformity with the basic principles of The Constitution of India.
Illegitimising post-marital religious conversion would have both spouses continue with their pre-marital religion even after marriage & there would be no cultural loss for either community. Religious conversion in order to marry someone would be prevented if marriage of converted individuals to a person of such converted religion be made illegitimate. No one may undergo a pre-marital conversion motivated to marry a pre-negotiated person of the same religion. Ideally, religion should hardly have any role in cases of inter-faith marriage for love.
People may argue that adopting any religion by choice is a matter of PERSONAL LIBERTY as per Article 21 & Legal prohibition of religious conversion violates the said Article. However, may religious conversion logically be encouraged much in a SECULAR country like India? Should religion & conversion thereof be of much significance in a Secular land?
Conversion to any religion other than to the ones of Indic origin may be looked upon as means of expansionism. However, Indian philosophy doesn’t preach religious or ideological expansionism but promotes peaceful & prosperous co-existence. Hence, in cases of all inter-religious marriages, both bride and groom have moral responsibility to remain loyal to their own original faith so that their inter-faith marriage doesn’t be apparent as religious expansionism. Those who opt for inter-faith marriage for love, need to uphold love over religion throughout their lives & stick to their original religious identity.
Legal prohibition would not prevent genuine lovers to marry for love but would retard evil attempts to misuse opportunities of love & marriage for personal enjoyment and/or for alleged religious expansionism. Such legal provisions would protect genuine love birds while preventing Love Jihadis, if any. It’s time to draft dynamic laws in congruence with changing social demands which would not only punish criminals but also prevent crimes.
Debjani Bhattacharyya