Thiruvananthapuram : It has been almost a month since the High Court directed the State Police Chief to conduct a ‘comprehensive’ investigation into cases of ‘Love Jihad’ and incidents of forcible conversions reported in the state. Now, the state intelligence wing is all set to investigate the widespread circulation of a notice on WhatsApp offering cash rewards to Muslim youths for converting and marrying women belonging to other religions.
The High Court had directed the DGP to supervise and monitor investigation into such instances and bring the guilty to book ‘as expeditiously as possible.’ The court had entrusted the police chief with the task after holding as null and void the marriage of a 24-year-old Hindu girl who converted to Islam and married a Muslim youth in December 2016. Intelligence officers said they were aware of such messages on social media, especially after the High Court ruling.
“We will launch an investigation into such messages being spread through WhatsApp. I am aware of messages offering rewards for conversion. We will take stern action if any cases are reported,” said E J Jayarajan, IG (Intelligence).
The notice circulated on WhatsApp said: “If a Muslim youth marries a Hindu Brahmin girl, he will be rewarded Rs 5 lakh. Similarly, if a Muslim marries a Christian Roman Catholic girl, he will get a reward of Rs 4 lakh. If he marries a Sikh girl, the reward will be Rs 7 lakh.”
“If the girl is from the Hindu Kshatriya community, the reward will be Rs 4.5 lakh. For marrying a Gujarati Brahmin girl, the reward is Rs 6 lakh. Rs 6 lakh is the reward for marrying a Punjabi Hindu girl. The reward will be Rs 3 lakh for a Christian Protestant girl, Rs 3 lakh for a Jain girl and Rs 3 lakh for marrying a Gujarati Kutch girl.”
The WhatsApp post is allegedly being circulated by an outfit ‘Students of Muslim Youth Forum.’ It encourages Muslim boys to trap girls from other communities and marry them.
The post carries the address of the offices in various states, including Kerala, which can be contacted for conversion purposes. In Kerala, the office address is in Kozhikode.
Intelligence officers said a number of young girls are converted in the northern parts of the state. Many of them are being converted for induction into the Islamic State.
The youths are increasingly misusing the social media for conversions, the officers said.
“The message has some mischievous intentions. Recently, the message was found shared on WhatsApp. I got the message through WhatsApp four to five days ago. In fact, the same message came two years ago and it was ignored. The message won’t be able to make a negative impact on our society. They will ignore it for sure,” said IG Manoj Abraham, State Nodal Officer, Cyberdome.
Source : New India Express
