What is 'love jihad'? Minority Commission says no bar on interfaith marriage with mutual consent

New Delhi: The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on Wednesday took exception to the use of the term "love jihad" for certain cases of interfaith marriage and said there was no bar on couples professing different faiths tying the nuptial knot with mutual consent on attaining legal age.

Replying to queries at a press conference, NCM chairperson Iqbal Singh Lalpura, however, said the commission had in the past received some complaints from parents alleging that their ward was misled into interfaith marriage.

Many of these complaints were later found to be true, he said.

"What is love jihad? I have not found this term in any dictionary," the NCM chairperson said when asked for his comment on the BJP's campaign against 'love jihad' in Kerala and other parts of the country.

"I have not seen any complaint on 'love jihad' like this by any particular community. I am not the representative or spokesperson of the BJP. Only they (BJP) can tell you (about love jihad)," Lalpura added.

He said everybody has right to marry a person of his or her choice.

"There is no bar on interfaith marriage if the couple have mutual consent," he said.

The NCM chairperson said that the commission had received some complaints in the past alleging that one of the couples was "misled" into interfaith marriage.

"Many of them were correct also. We ask the state governments concerned to ensure justice," he said.

Lalpura said the commission had received some complaints from the parents alleging that their daughter or son had been "misled and taken away without the consent of the family".

"We ask the states to verify all these things and take necessary action," he added.