Arise Bharat

By: Kuldeep Jha

From London to Ladakh, the story sounds disturbingly familiar. Now it is the Ladakh Buddhist Association raising the alarm—accusing an organized pattern of grooming, abduction, and religious conversion of Buddhist girls, explicitly calling it LOVE -JIHAD, and demanding an anti-conversion and anti-love jihad law for the Union Territory of Ladakh.

In a strongly worded representation addressed to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Zanskar Sub-Division, the Association highlights what it describes as an urgent and deeply disturbing case involving a missing Buddhist girl from Zanskar.

“We the undersigned are writing this letter with extreme urgency and distress to report the kidnapping, abduction / wrongful confinement of a Buddhist girl from Zanskar namely Stanzin Yangdol, by an unidentified individual who has been missing for past many days.”

The letter records the family’s belief that the girl is being held against her will after all attempts to trace her failed.

“We have been informed by the parents of the girls that after their exhaustive search and inquiries with friends and relatives to find her. They believe that she has been kidnapped by unknown individuals who are wrongfully confining her against her will.”

The Association alleges systematic psychological manipulation used to isolate and control the girl.

“It has come to our attention that the perpetrators likely to have lured the girls by feeding her systematic misinformation. We suspect these individuals manipulated her perception of reality to trap her, and they are currently exploiting her vulnerability based on these fabrications. This psychological manipulation has rendered her unable to contact us or escape their custody.”

The letter makes clear that the matter extends beyond a single case and raises broader concerns of fraudulent religious conversions through marriage.

“In view of the above, we write this letter to respectfully draw your attention to a matter of serious public concern involving the alleged misuse of marriage as a means to fraudulently convert girls belonging to the Buddhist community into another religion.”

According to the Association, these conversions are not based on free or informed consent.

“There are strong and reasonable grounds to believe that, in multiple instances, marriages are being preceded or accompanied by religious conversion of Buddhist girls, not by their free, voluntary, and informed consent, but through deception, coercion, inducement, or misrepresentation.”

Crucially, the Association asserts that these incidents follow a recurring and organized pattern.

“We have strong reason to believe that these incidents appear to follow a consistent and preplanned pattern, giving rise to a reasonable apprehension of an organized conspiracy aimed at altering the religious identity of girls from a particular community.”

It further emphasizes that the similarities across cases are too significant to ignore.

“It is significant that such cases show striking similarities in their method and outcome, suggesting that these are not isolated or accidental occurrences but part of a larger and deliberate design.”

The letter also points out that Indian law already provides a lawful mechanism for genuine interfaith marriages.

“It is pertinent to note that our law provides a lawful, secular, and constitutionally protected mechanism for interfaith marriages under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. If such marriages were genuinely based on mutual consent and devoid of any religious pressure, they could be solemnized under the said Act without necessitating conversion of either party.”

Instead, the Association highlights a one-sided pattern of conversion.

“However, it has been consistently observed that instead of opting for this legal route, the religion of the girl alone is invariably converted, while no corresponding conversion takes place on the part of the male partner.”

Warning of the potential for unrest, the letter calls for intervention by community leaders and authorities.

“At this crucial juncture, we feel that the respected Muslims community leaders, local administration and other stakeholders to warn the Muslims for their immediate intervention.”

It further issues a direct warning regarding LOVE -JIHAD.

“We also warn the Muslims community leaders in the past at many occasions to sensitize the youths of their communities to refrain from practicing LOVE -JIHAD, which otherwise might lead to communal unrest in the region.”

The immediate demand is the safe return of the missing girl to her family.

“As such, we would like to approach your noble self with regards to restoring the said girl to the family at the earliest, which would be interest of communal harmony of the region.”

The Association also seeks punitive action against those involved.

“We also seek to your kind intervention to penalize, the forcible or fraudulent religious conversion love jihad, and by taking strict action the individual involved in this forcible conversion through marriage or allurement, which amounts to disturbing the otherwise peaceful environment of this region.”

Finally, the letter makes a categorical demand for legislation in Ladakh.

“We would also like to request the concerned authorities for the enactment of any ANTI – CONVERSION LAW OR ANTI – LOVE JIHAD LAW in the UT, Ladakh, as doing this will help us maintain the communal harmony of the region.”

It concludes with a blunt assertion:

“Once this law is put in practice at the UT, Ladakh, we believe that the all the illegal activities under the LOVE – JIHAD will immediately come to end.”

The Ladakh Buddhist Association’s representation leaves little room for ambiguity. It frames the issue as systemic, pre-planned, and urgent, placing the responsibility squarely on the administration to act before the situation escalates further.