A Muslim family has been caught trying to forcefully marry a Hindu girl to their son in Tamil Nadu. The family simply went to the girl’s house, announced their son would marry her, and started printing invitations. The girl said that it happened without her knowledge and that she isn’t doesn’t want the marriage or convert to Islam. Hindu outfits have intervened to help the girl and her family.

In a video going viral on social media, a Hindu girl from Kancheepuram said that a Muslim man is trying to marry her without her consent. In the video, the girl says that she just completed school and scored 442/600 in the 12th-grade public examinations. When the person filming the video asks the girl what is her problem she says, “His name is Imran. He asked me to marry him. I said I would think about it. They came to our house and said that we will be married and printed invitations without our acknowledgement and consent. They even changed my name. My name is Selvi. But they changed it to Asma Fatima”.

When she was asked whether she likes it or not or whether anyone is compelling her to talk like this, she clearly says that she is making the statement in her own capacity and that she doesn’t like changing her name as “It is her identity”. She further says that she doesn’t want marriage and wants to pursue higher studies and find employment. She has known Imran for 2 years and when asked whether it is an intimate relationship she says that it was only a customary relationship.

The girl alleges that Imran and his family printed invitations without her consent and are forcing her to marry him. There were accusations of forced confession in the case of Lavanya, the Hindu girl who took her life after being forced to convert to Christianity by the nuns in her school. Perhaps the person who filmed the video took it into consideration as towards the end of the video he asks, “Is anyone forcing you to say this? What do you dislike? The marriage, the man or that you have to convert?”. The girl boldly replies, “I’m making this statement in my own capacity. I am not interested in marriage. I don’t like any of it”.

Hindu Munnani, a local Hindu outfit, has shared her confession on Twitter. She has reiterated what she said in the video about Imran, his family and the forced marriage. Apart from that her confession says that Imran kept bothering her asking her to marry by promising things and that she was confused and unable to make a decision at first.

However, she has decided to pursue education and marry only after she turns 21, as per the law. Hindu Munnani’s tweet says that the love jihad attempt was thwarted and a daughter’s life was saved. It is unclear whether any police complaint was made against the Muslim family. But the written self-confession would help retrieve the girl even if she is forcibly converted and married to Imran hereafter. While it is heartening that the girl has a clear worldview and probably escaped the clutches of Islamists, the increasing number of grooming jihad cases in TN is alarming. 

In the first two weeks of May, a minor girl was abducted and raped by Muslim men who lured her away by promising marriage and a college girl befriended by a Muslim man went missing. Meanwhile, the DMK government has shadow banned The Kerala Story and claimed in the SC that it was ‘pulled down’ by theatre owners due to ‘poor response’.