Why in News: –The recent passage of the so-called ‘love jihad’ laws in three states of the country, represents a new and daunting challenge to love in India.

Syllabus: – GS-2:  Mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

GS-1: Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.

GS-4:  Behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.

• Generally, youngsters who love each other prefer to die than bow to the structural oppression and violence which have kept us divided for millennia.
• These divisions are so profound that the virtual absence of marriage between castes and communities has left indelible signatures on the genetic footprint of over a billion people.
• Path-breaking research on the genetic ancestry of Indians demonstrates that while there was plenty of mixing going on from the earliest days of human settlements on this soil.
• This suddenly came to a halt about 2,000 years ago when the caste system became solidified.

 Background:

1. To the casual observer, India is the most amazing experiment in multiculturalism in the world, far grander and much older than the European Union or the countries created by European settlers after murdering most of the indigenous peoples.
2. It is a land which scores of populations with distinct identities, languages and customs call home, a land which effortlessly assimilated its invaders to enrich its melting pot, a mind-bogglingly diverse country trying, while still a work in progress, to achieve an audacious civilisational feat.
3. And yet, history teaches us that this diversity is only skin-deep for we have studiously prohibited loving across caste and religion for two millennia.

The Social Concerns

1. No other society has been so rigidly stratified for as long a period in the history of human civilisation.
2. Those who dared to love across the forbidden boundaries of caste and community faced not only being ostracised by their own families but death at their hands.
3. If there is one marker of Indian exceptionalism that is without parallel, it is the cruel history of division of our own people, first by caste and then, by religion.
4. Two thousand years of division is a formidable burden of history for young lovers to contend with, and despite generations of vigorous efforts towards social reform, the vast majority of marriages in India continue to be governed by these ancient, primitive, rules.

 Challenges ahead: –

1. In recent times is the dramatic social change that has accompanied urbanisation, education and economic liberalisation, transforming the hopes and aspirations of young people.
2. This torrent of freedom is further fuelled by unprecedented access to mass and digital media, which beams the lives and opportunities of others into the privacy of your phone in an instant.
3. The fundamentally human need to pursue love, once forbidden beyond the confines of a marriage arranged so as to be acceptable to a family trapped in the cage of orthodoxy, was let loose.

Self-appointed custodians of morality and ethnic purity:

1. The recent passage of the so-called “love jihad” laws in three states of the country, imposing harsh penalties on “forced conversions” under the pretext of marriage, represents a new and daunting challenge to love in India.
2. At its core, the intent appears to be to instil fear in the outcast community of our times and, in doing so, it joins the long lineage of similar legislation which sought to protect the supposed racial purity of the dominant community, in particular its women, who apparently have no agency to resist the wily men from the other side.
3. Those who champion these chilling laws are not only building on our own home-grown vintage record of denying the freedom to love but also in the notorious footsteps of Nazi Germany, which criminalised marriage between Jews and “Aryans”, and white supremacists, who debarred marriage between blacks and whites in the US and South Africa.

 Consequences of the laws: –

• India’s youth are in despair and angry at the growing loss of freedoms and poisons seeping through an increasingly fragmented society.
• Suicide has been the leading cause of death in young people for the better part of a decade.
• The government reports that more than twoamounting to over 90,000 deaths, an increase of 4 per cent from the previous year.
• Many of these suicides are precipitated by the loss of hope or rage at a perceived injustice or failure to realise a dream.
• The terrorising of young people advocating for causes as diverse as climate change, environmental protection, inequality or the farmer’s protests will undoubtedly add more fuel to the fire of despair.
• Young people died because they were marooned in a society that refused to let them live the life of their choice and crushed their desire to enjoy the most basic freedom of all — to pursue a cause or person they were passionate about.
• The uphill struggle for young Indians to love just got a lot steeper.
• As judges decide on the multitude of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the “love jihad” laws or the charges of sedition against young Indians pursuing dreams of a more just and sustainable country.
• It is hoped they will pause for a moment and reflect on their own youth, when challenging oppression and championing progressive ideas was the essence of life.
• If nothing else, it is hoped they will note that demonising the freedom to love will contribute to the growing suicide toll of young people in India.

 Solution:

1. Constitutional institutions, especially the judiciary, need to be on guard and pro-active in this regard.
2. Legislation must be based on basic principles of human values and balance betweenthe fundamental rights and DPSP.
3. To regulate forced conversionsis not to strike at the very freedom of conscience that citizens possess.
4. The Supreme Court has decided andexamines the constitutional validity and conditionality of the laws.
5. Legislator must declare the right of Parliament to abridge or take away Fundamental Rights. 
6. Judiciary may action against whom / who takes away Fundamental Rights by a constituted Parliament even though an amendment of the Constitution can be declared void.
7. Administrator may implement law vary carefully and avoid to make controversy

 Way forward:

• The present government has a great role to play here. It does not need such distractions, even for political mileage. The ruling party is firmly in the saddle and can continue its popularity with development and progress.
• Let us hope and trust that we can together reaffirm “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas” without any biases.
• The Nation, of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’(‘Together, for everyone’s growth, with everyone’s trust’) must shed its many distractions that now grossly impinge on the values and rights of Indians.
• Try to developed religious tolerance in approach and in action.
• Constitutionally Indiamost remains a democratic sovereign republic where all religions are of equal status.

 Question: –

“Love Jihad is assuming new identities and associational forms. Those who dared to love across the forbidden boundaries of caste and community are being ostracised by their own families.” Comment.