No 'love jihad' cases; not defined in law: MHA

'Love Jihad' is not defined in law and no such case has been reported by any central agencies, the Ministry of Home Affairs informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

This was disclosed by Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy in a written reply to Congress MP Benny Behanan.

"Article 25 of the Constitution provides for the freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion subject to public order, morality and health. Various courts have upheld this view including the Kerala High Court. The term 'love jihad' is not defined under the extant laws," Reddy said.

"No such case of 'love jihad' has been reported by any of the central agencies. However, two cases from Kerala involving inter-faith marriages have been investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA)," he said.

The Minister was asked whether the government was aware of the observation of Kerala High Court that there is no case of 'love jihad' in Kerala and whether any of the central agencies have reported any such case from Kerala during the last two years.

'Love Jihad' is a term used by right-wing Hindutva organisations to suggest that some section of Muslims trap Hindu girls in love affairs for the holy war.

Earlier last month, the Catholic Church also latched on to this with the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church, claimed 'love jihad' is a "reality" and alleged that Christian women from Kerala were being lured into the trap of Islamic State and used in terror activities. The Kerala government had rejected such assertions by the Church.

Later, a Church spokesperson also claimed incidents of young women from Kerala being used as "sex slaves" in war-torn nations are a reality and turning a blind eye to it "amounts to giving a silent sanction" to that.