A Syro-Malabar Media Commission report on Wednesday claimed that Christian girls are targeted and killed in the name of 'love Jihad' in Kerala, ANI reported. "It is a matter of concern that 'love Jihad' is increasing in Kerala causing danger to the secular harmony and societal peace in Kerala," the report claimed. According to multiple reports, the synod claimed that there was a 'love jihad' focussed on Christian girls, stating that over half of the 21 women who joined Islamic State hailed from the Christian community.
This is not the first time that the church has levelled the allegations of love jihad. In September 2019, Fr Antony Thalachelloor, secretary of Syro-Malabar Media Commission, in a press release, had claimed, according to The New Indian Express, "It is a cause of great worry that Christian girls are the most targeted lot. The CBI, the NIA and the IB have all reported that such cases are occurring in the state and the country. It is saddening and worrying that despite the existence of a mechanism to counter efforts by religious terrorist groups to entrap gullible girls, these are not being tackled efficiently”.
On September 26, George Kurian, vice chairman of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), shot off a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, asking for a probe into cases of 'love jihad' or forced conversion of women by Islamic radicals. Demanding the involvement of NIA, he wrote, “The spate of organised religious conversions and using the victims for terror activities by trapping them through ‘love jihad’ has shown the Christian community is a soft target for Islamic radicals,” reported The Hindu.
Kurian quoted a report by the Kerala Catholic Bishops Conference’s (KCBC) Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance, which claimed that there were 4,000 instances of “love jihad” between 2005 and 2012. “Love jihad is on, and it has been continuing in the state for a while. Here, conversion is not into Islam, but into terrorism. Even the Muslim community is objecting to it,” Kurian had told The Indian Express.