By
Robin David
December
20, 2020
The
so-called ‘love jihad’ laws that many Indian states hope to pass after Uttar
Pradesh’s ordinance, aim to stop Muslim men from marrying Hindu women after
converting them. Ironically enough, the same laws may help India become a
lifetime member of an exclusive club of Muslim-dominated countries that
consider it their moral responsibility to police love between interfaith
couples.
Many of
these countries have religion integrated into their Constitution. This makes
the case for India, which is a secular republic, more stark.
In
September 2015, when the Hadiya case had still not made headlines and love
jihad was a fringe idea in mainstream Indian politics, the US Library of
Congress released the ‘Prohibition of interfaith marriage’ report. It listed 29
countries that barred or restricted marriages between consenting adults of
different faiths.
Not
surprisingly, 26 of these were Muslim-dominated countries, many of them
infamous for tightly controlling individual liberty. The names were predictable
– Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, the UAE, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen …
But the
list also had three countries that don’t belong to the Muslim world – India,
Israel and Myanmar. Effectively, the world knew of India as a country averse to
interfaith marriages even before Uttar Pradesh passed its ordinance.
The only
saving grace was that the Special Marriage Act allowed interfaith couples to
get married after creating roadblocks, like giving a 30-day notice to the
marriage registrar and putting up the notice at a public place so that society
at large comes to know that two consenting adults are taking the risk of
crossing religious borders for love.
But, in the
end, many still managed to marry despite pressure from their families and
religious groups. Now, with state governments getting involved, the concept of
love jihad is in the process of getting legitimacy. The laws will add another
layer of difficulty to the entire process, that many couples will never be able
to pass.
Laws are
meant to protect people from persecution. But laws based on love jihad
conspiracies may end up legally persecuting many interfaith couples. They will
be prosecuted simply because they fell in love. In the process, India will be
even more firmly ensconced in the exclusive club of love policemen.
It would
perhaps be worthwhile to look at exactly where these 29 countries stand on
overall freedom. The Human Freedom Index, 2019, released in December last year,
listed New Zealand, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia as the top
five freest jurisdictions in the world. Prepared by the Cato Institute in the
US, Fraser Institute in Canada and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom
in Germany, the researchers prepare the annual index on 78 parameters. These
include rule of law, security and safety, movement, religious freedom, freedom
of association, freedom of assembly and civil society, freedom of expression,
freedom of identity and relationships among others.
As
expected, almost all the 29 countries did poorly on the index, not even making
it to the top 75 ranks. Israel was the only exception, getting the 46th rank.
India finished 94th. Jordan, ranked 80th, and Lebanon at the 88th spot,
finished a few notches above India.
Pakistan
finished 140th, and Bangladesh 138th. Syria raised no eyebrows for finishing
last in the list of 162 countries. Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Algeria, Libya,
Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen and Syria dominated the list between ranks 148 and
162.
One can, of
course, argue that India’s poor rank is not only because of the marriage laws.
Yes, but these are definitely a concern and they don’t help. It also tells us
to look at a deeper issue – how free are we as Indian citizens and how free do
we want to be?
We live in
an age where the state not only tells us who we can fall in love with and who
we can’t, it also tells us which meats we can eat and the eating of which meats
will land us in jail. There is a fear that the government will soon tell OTTs
like Netflix what they can show Indian audiences and what they can’t, because
it has brought the platforms under its control.
It is also
passing laws that can jail you without a credible reason and is refusing a
straw and a pair of spectacles to jailed activists despite them needing these
basic things on medical grounds.
It is
perhaps time that we tell our governments where we, as citizens, draw red lines
when it comes to our personal lives. And we will have to stand up for even
those we disagree with. Individual freedom has to be the same for all, without
worrying about who occupies which end of the ideological or political spectrum.
It is
important to remember that if you bend a law to suit the ones you identify
with, we make it vulnerable. And once you make the law vulnerable, you make it
so for all, including yourself.
It is also
important to remember that individual liberty and human dignity are closely
linked. The government has to see its citizens as autonomous beings with
agency. Citizens can’t be treated as subservient subjects of the state and nothing
more.
------
Robin
David is resident editor of The Times of India's Hyderabad edition. His first
book, City of Fear, was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award in 2007.
Original
Headline; India joins the love police: Draconian interfaith marriage laws ring
the death knell for individual liberty
Source: The Times of India
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/love-between-interfaith-couples-india/d/123828
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