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Sumedha Sharma
Tribune news Service
Gurugram, August 21
The “love jihad” controversy continues to keep Ferozepur Jhirka in Mewat area on the edge. The parents of a 19-year-old Hindu girl, who married a Muslim tailor in the High Court, and several Hindu groups under the aegis of the Jan Sangharsh Samiti have shot off a letter to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, demanding the girl’s return and threatening to step up the agitation if she does not return home.
On August 14, Neha, a student of BA second year, had gone missing and her family had filed a complaint with the police. Within days, they accused Akil Khan, a tailor of Chota Sidrawat village, of abducting their daughter with the help of his friend.
On Monday, when the local police received court orders asking them to provide security to the couple, the girl’s parents and Hindu outfits took to the streets raising slogans against the police. They blocked the Delhi-Alwar highway.
Muslims accused protesters of vigilantism. They sought state government’s intervention in restoring peace.
A leader of the Muslim community said, “The girl married a man out her own volition. She released a video, saying her parents were present in the High Court when she got married. So, what can we do?”
He accused Hindu traders, who dominate the local market, of refusing to sell Muslims groceries and other stuff. “In retaliation, our community leaders have barred us from selling milk to them. It has become difficult to walk on the road as they pass lewd comments and raise threatening slogans. Some of local mediapersons from our community have been attacked. They threaten to kill our men.”
The protesters, however, refuted all allegations and said they had been protesting peacefully.
“The matter is being blown out of proportion. The accused is a 32-year-old man. He is a father of two children. He and his friend abducted the girl and converted her religion. We approached his community leaders on August 18. It was decided that Akil would return the girl to her parents, but he didn’t. This is ‘love jihad”. We will not tolerate this. We want the girl back,” a samiti leader said.
The samiti has found support from Hindu groups of Gurugram under the aegis of the Hindu Kranti Dal that also asked Khattar to step in.
Neha, meanwhile, has released a video, saying that Akil was the love of her life and that she had eloped with him out of choice.
“I am not a commodity that they are demanding me back. I have chosen my husband. As an adult, I can choose my life partner. And I have. We just wanted to be together but people have used our love story for petty gains. I have chosen my life and I won’t return,” she said in the video.
In Karnal, runaway Couple insulted
Karnal: A 20-year-old youth and 35-year-old woman, who had eloped, were allegedly beaten up and forced to move around in the village wearing a garland of slippers in Daniyalpur village on Tuesday. Their faces were blackened. The issue came to light, when the video of the incident went viral on social media, following which the police registered a case against 12 persons by name, including the husband of the woman, and nearly 10 others under the SC/ST Act. As per the complaint filed by the youth's family, the boy and the woman, a mother of four kids, eloped on August 17. Her husband along with his friends detained them on Monday. They brought them back to the village and insulted them, the SP said. Sultan, uncle of the youth, alleged it was an attempt to kill his nephew. TNS
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