Rights groups condemn UP police action after Love Jihad law victim's miscarriage in custody
Rights groups and politicians have condemned the detention of the Uttar Pradesh couple Rashid and Muskan Jahan under the controversial Love Jihad law. The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), while condemning the incident, cited that the police action is horrific and brutal. “IAMC condemns the victimisation of a young couple Rashid and Muskan Jahan, under the deeply repressive "Love Jihad" law legislated by UP,” the organisation noted.
“The forced miscarriage of 22 year old Muskan exemplifies the inhumanity of Hindu nationalism's merciless drive for supremacy in India that has resulted in mob rule across the country,” it added.
Muskan Jahan, who is the first woman detained under the Love Jihad in UP, had converted to Islam after marrying Rashid, who is being held in an unknown prison here.
The couple’s relatives have alleged Muskan has miscarried in custody. They, reportedly, received a call from Muskan saying she had bled profusely and then lost her baby.
The couple fell in love and married in Dehradun in July. Rashid, hailing from Moradabad, arrived at the court in his native town on December 6 to get their marriage registered. They were taken by a group of Bajrang Dal activists, who blocked the family’s route home. Upon being informed, the police took the couple into custody while Rashid was taken to a prison and Muskan was sent to a shelter home. This happened despite Muskan’s protests saying they were happily married.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor termed the law terrible. “The life of a child in return for falling in love. The cruel realty of this terrible law,” Tharoor noted while sharing the news of the miscarriage.