Two days after an interfaith couple was forcibly stopped from registering their marriage by members of the Hindutva group Bajrang Dal, the couple finally managed to get married on Friday, September 16. Speaking to reporters, Chaitra said that she was stopped from registering her marriage with her fiance Jafar on Wednesday by members of the Bajrang Dal who alleged that it was a case of ‘love jihad'. Love jihad is a right-wing conspiracy claiming that Muslim men deliberately marry Hindu women to convert them to Islam.
What was supposed to be a private affair for the couple quickly turned into a public spectacle with Chaitra and Jafar spending their day at the police station. "We had gone according to the law to register our marriage. Why were they there to stop us? Who are they to stop us? We are marrying because we like each other and we are getting married as per the law but now we need protection from them. They have already threatened us," Chaitra, who is a woman belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC), told reporters.
Chaitra said a complaint was filed against the vigilantes at the Basavanahalli police station in Chikkamagaluru and alleged that the members of the Hindutva group abused her and assaulted Jafar. "They abused me, attacked him and beat him. They asked him if he wanted to marry a Hindu girl, ‘Do you want to marry an SC girl’? Is it that SC girls cannot marry? We immediately filed a complaint against them," she said.
An FIR was lodged at the Basavanahalli police station in Chikkamagaluru based on the complaint given by Jafar. Chikkamagaluru police arrested four persons — Shama, Guru, Prasad and Parthibhan — in connection with the incident.
Chaitra and Jafar are residents of Lakshmipuram in Chikkamagaluru and told reporters they have been in a relationship for three years. "There has been an injustice against us. It is our wish. We will marry and earn and live. What authority do they have to question that?" she asked.