Matters of the Heart – Love or Jihad!!!

Contrary to popular belief, Love Jihad was not an invention of states in the Cow Belt, or from some wretched RSS Shakha, it was fabricated by some very clever Hindus and Christians in Kerala, the VHP and the Church (See news clipping in first comment). But in November 2009, Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose stated there was no organisation whose members lured girls by feigning love with the intention of converting them. And, in 2012, after two years of investigation about a website’s allegations of Love Jihad, Kerala Police declared it as a “campaign with no substance”. Subsequently, a case was initiated against the website.
Now, once again, the often mentioned but never conclusively proved phenomenon has reappeared from Kerala with the High Court ruling that a marriage of a Hindu woman, Akhila, to a Muslim, was invalid on the basis of Love Jihad. The court said amazing things like, “A girl aged 24 years is weak and vulnerable, capable of being exploited in many ways,” and, “Her marriage being the most important decision in her life, can also be taken only with the active involvement of her parents.”

When the husband appealed to the Supreme Court he was probably surprised to hear the Court ask the National Investigation Agency to investigate the case. NIA, a central agency established by the Indian Government to combat terror, told the court that this was not an isolated incident, and that it had detected a pattern emerging in the state, as another case involved the same people who acted as instigators.
Meanwhile, when Kapil Sybil and Indira Jaisingh asked the Supreme Court to talk to the girl to ascertain the truth, the court refused, and asked them, “Have you heard of the game Blue Whale Challenge, you can lead people anywhere after psychologically influencing them.” Blue Whale, to which Akhila has been likened, began in Russia in 2013 with “F57”, one of the names of the so-called “death group” of the VKontakte social network. Philipp Burdekin, a former psychology student claimed to have created it. He was arrested and pled guilty to “inciting at least 16 teenage girls to commit suicide”, leading to Russian suicide prevention legislation and renewed world-wide concern over the Blue Whale phenomenon.
Interestingly, at the same day and time as the Supremes were looking into Love Jihad, a Delhi High Court was looking into the Blue Whale Challenge and said, almost as if it were speaking to the Supremes, “If an adult is told to do a task, why would he/she go and jump from a building,” it asked. Please answer that question judges.