Interfaith Couples Are Fleeing Uttar Pradesh To Avoid Arrest Under New 'Love Jihad' Law

His name, she knew the day she fell for him, would raise walls between them. Mohammad Iqbal. Not what her parents had in mind for the 22-year-old Hindu girl from a town near Varanasi diligently preparing for administrative exams. After four years of trying to bring her family around and failing -- and then suddenly facing the threat of arrest if her unhappy kin pressed charges -- they left. Many like them have, or are, running away from towns in UP.

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¡°When my parents found out about Iqbal, I was locked inside my room, CCTV cameras at every possible point in the house,¡± Smriti, now 26, told TOI. ¡°They took me to a hypnotist to check if he had hypnotised me into falling for him.¡± Eventually, they disowned her. Smriti and Iqbal then rented a house in Delhi, applied for marriage under the Special Marriages Act.

They are now waiting it out until their February wedding date.

So are Mohammad Shadab, 24, and Anamika, 23. They met in college four years ago in a small UP town. ¡°Right-wing activists were after my life,¡± Shadab said. But they could not leave then. ¡°I was worried they¡¯d come after my parents. I was made to apologise to her family and promise to cut things off. We didn¡¯t actually break things off.¡± But then, the anti-conversion law came and they had to change plans. ¡°We¡¯ll get married outside UP and, if required, I will convert to Hinduism. We¡¯ll seek protection from the court.¡±

Which is what Simran, 21, and Mohammad Shamim, 25, from Shahjahanpur did. ¡°When my parents found out, they removed the SIM from my phone, tortured me, even threatened to kill me if I married Shamim,¡± Simran said. They fled and were granted protection by the Delhi high court. ¡°I don¡¯t think we are going back,¡± Shamim said.

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¡°Couples are scared because the arrests have been arbitrary,¡± Asiq Iqbal, co-founder of Dhanak, a Delhi-based NGO which helps interfaith couples, said. On Wednesday, UP Police brought back from Delhi a 21-year-old Hindu woman who had eloped from Etah with a Muslim neighbour, Javed. Fourteen members of his family have been arrested. Earlier this month, police brought back a Hindu man, Naman Madaan, and a Muslim woman, Farha, from Meerut who had eloped and got married in Rishikesh. And in October, an interfaith couple from Bareilly who had fled to Rajasthan were brought back. The Muslim boy is still in jail.

Under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, anyone ¡°forcing¡± someone to convert can be arrested. Police said jurisdiction issues won¡¯t come in the way. ¡°If there is evidence of conversion for the sole purpose of marriage, action will be taken no matter where the couple goes,¡± Aligarh SP (crime) Arvind Kumar said.

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¡°The only way out,¡± Allahabad high court lawyer KK Roy explained, ¡°is if a couple seeks protection from the high court of the state they move to.¡± So, Smriti and Iqbal are considering court protection as well. Smriti said, ¡°Before we left, my parents made Iqbal sign an undertaking that he¡¯d be responsible for whatever happened to me ¡­ They¡¯d threatened us with dire consequences if we ever returned.¡±

(Inputs by Deepak Lavania, Sandeep Rai & Kanwardeep Singh. Some names have been changed to protect identity)