The law ought to have a modernising force , driving society ’ s reforming impulse , but this has not happened — that ’ s at the core of the crisis .
COVER STORY
For Nainital-based educationist Kripa , a Syrian Christian married to a Rajput , it wasn ’ t so smooth . She was unwilling to convert to marry and her prospective in-laws were “ the most liberal family possible ”. Yet , the SMA was not an option — her father ’ s signature , required under the SMA , was not forthcoming . The couple went for a temple wedding ; she adopted a friend ’ s gotra . Her church , when it found out , asked her to resign or get her husband to convert . Averse to a conversion of convenience , she res igned . “ The church , I feel , did everything contrary to the message of god ,” she says . “ The Bible is inclusive , not exclusive . Personally , I feel connected to god even now .”
KRIPA , Ankit ’ s girlfriend , Saini ’ s potential victims — all are on the same plane . The dread of girls doing their own choosing may now be rearticulated in the terms of conversion , the latest brand of phobia . But it ’ s an ancient , congenital fear — the idea that our women will be bamboozled out of the fold . “ In the 1940s , when untouchables said they are not Hindus , the Hindus felt their numbers would fall ,” says Sunil Kumar , who teaches history at Delhi University . “ So the fear is not just about Muslims or Christians , it ’ s more so about Dalits marrying ‘ higher ’ castes . They have not coined a word for this yet , but they might as well — perhaps it would not be so easy to push it with the electorate .” Kumar , of course , says the whole “ love jehad formulation ” makes no sense . “ The proposition is that a woman is so inept she cannot discern . It ’ s absurd .”
If smaller histories are the real history of India , it ’ s worth mentioning that Saini ’ s opponents are alive — and starting to kick . “ In the name of opposing Valentine ’ s Day , they want to spread chaos . They tell people that Muslims will capture India , and people fall in the trap ,” says Shivaji Gautam , a young Dalit activist in rural Muzaffarnagar , a member of an Udham Singh Sena and a Dalit-Muslim Sena . “ This year , we ’ ll go out to oppose them and protect couples if the government does not stop them .”
“ They want Christian / English education for their children , but if some boy hands their daughter a flower on a street-corner , they thrash her ,” says Prof Prakash , who wishes courts would intervene . “ If they love their culture so much , caste Hindus should bear its weight themselves and hand over their male children to temples and priests . Why do they want women and Dalits to carry this burden ?”
One couple-protection force exists in Delhi too —‘ Love Commandos ’ rescues women ( and men ) in social crises brought on by love . “ We ’ ve helped 50,000 couples already and still get a steady stream of cases , such are the conditions in our country ,” says Sanjay Sachdev , who runs the voluntary outfit . Where do the couples come from ? The number one
The law ought to have a modernising force , driving society ’ s reforming impulse , but this has not happened — that ’ s at the core of the crisis .
ALL ABOUT HONOUR A khap panchayat in Haryana
place is Andhra-Telangana , followed by Tamil Nadu , Karnataka , Pondicherry , Gujarat , Maharashtra . If the Jat belt has khaps , jati and samaj panchayats in Rajasthan , Andhra , Madhya Pradesh et al push couples in the way of danger . “ There is no poor or rich , Bania or Brahmin , Jat or Jatav , or Delhi , Mumbai , Calcutta difference in the people who seek my help . I can show you the violence of all these groups .”
Muslims , of course , have an elaborate architecture of misogyny of their own , including a clergy steeped in patriarchy , Student activist Shehla Rashid had raised a storm rec ently , asking , fairly pointedly , if Muslims would react differently from Hindutva warriors if a Muslim girl were to marry a non-Muslim . “ It ’ s not like just one religion has fundamentalist elements — both Muslim and Hindu groups suppress women ,” she says . Ankit ’ s corpse came as proof , this week ’ s Exhibit A . “ We have the right to marry anybody we choose , to eat what we like , work in what profession we want . The right-wing assaults those rights ,” she says .
Out in the country , things are moving erratically , two steps forward , one back . Haryana ’ s sex ratio has inched back up to 950 — it was 819 / 1000 in 2001 . And it stands at 912 in UP ( 894 in urban areas ). But the old world is nervous . “ Many anxieties we see today , such as over love jehad or inter-caste marriages , are a reflection of old idea of defending honour ,” says Jagpal Singh , who teaches at IGNOU .
Honour , of course , is rendered more honourable when it ’ s systematically linked to property . Judge by a recent instance in Ghaziabad . A Hindu-Muslim couple were engaged to be married . Even their families were happy and willingly participating . Still , the right-wing sought to stop it , in vain . VHP activist Balaraj Doongar , who leads such agitations in the area , laments : “ It was love jehad and land jehad rolled into one . The Hindus lost a daughter and crores in property .” All talk of ‘ all owing ’ freedom in relationships to women floats on this dark sea . It ’ s a double deceit . At one level , women are to be denied ancestral property . At another , more fundamental level , women are ancestral property . O
34 OUTLOOK 26 February 2018