Hindus and Muslims in interfaith marriages in India are in danger often, but some groups are fighting back
- Conservative Indian families still object to their children finding partners beyond approved limits of religion and caste, sometimes resorting to violence
- Support groups exist for interfaith and intercaste couples looking for help, while safe houses protect couples from harm and threat of honour killings
It took five years of stolen conversations, running from their families and finally a High Court order for Mohit Nagar, 26, and Amreen Malik, 22, to tie the knot.
Nagar is Hindu and Malik is Muslim. When Nagar’s family found out about his feelings for Malik, they stopped him from going to the medical store he ran opposite her home in Meerut, in India’s Uttar Pradesh state. Malik’s family took away her phone, locked her up and arranged a marriage with someone else.
So the Indian couple eloped to Delhi in March, Malik scaling the wall of her family home in the middle of the night while Nagar waited outside. They were finally married in July.
Fault lines have always existed along caste and religious boundaries in India, particularly when the lines are crossed for love. “Religion was the only barrier and we tried in vain to convince our families,” Nagar says from Ghaziabad, near Delhi, where the couple now lives.
Mohammed Riyaan Ansari, a 25-year-old Muslim, and Suman Ansari, 23 and previously a Hindu, married in 2018 and now have a three-year-old daughter. “We eloped in March 2018 after Suman was constantly tortured,” Riyaan Ansari says.
Running away from home has meant a financial struggle for the couple, who had to keep travelling in their first year of marriage to escape false complaints and persecution.
