Interfaith marriage: Bride's father claims she is being held against her will

The father of a Christian woman, who married a Muslim DYFI leader, on Thursday claimed that his daughter has been taken away against her will and sought a probe into the matter by an agency from outside the state.

The father of Jyotsna Mary Joseph, a nurse in Saudi Arabia, told reporters here that since the day his daughter left her home, she has not spoken to any of them, and therefore, he believed that she was being restrained against her will by the groom.

He further said that since the Kerala police have not been able to bring his daughter to him so that he can talk to her, he has no faith in the agency.

He also said that he has moved to the Kerala High Court and depending on what happens there, he will decide the future course of action.

The interfaith marriage has stirred up a political storm after the bride's relatives alleged ''love jihad'', with a senior left party leader supporting the charge, only to retract his statement later.

The Marxist party, thereafter, made it clear that there was nothing unnatural in interfaith marriages and the campaign of 'love jihad' was a creation of RSS and Sangh Parivar.

The relatives of the bride leveled ''love jihad' allegations after she recently walked out on her family and married Shejin, a local DYFI leader belonging to the Muslim community, without their consent.

Love jihad is a term used by the right-wing outfits to claim that Muslim men lure women from other faiths to convert them into Islam.

A statement issued by the CPI(M) district secretariat member George M Thomas supporting the allegations of 'love jihad' on Tuesday added more fuel to the row and triggered an intense social media campaign by a section of people against the ruling party.

However, the CPI(M) district leadership intervened and made Thomas issue a clarification.

The newly-married couple, a few days ago, had denied the allegations by Jyotsna's relatives.