Graphic Novel: Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya – One Year of UP's Anti-Conversion Law

Meet Pinky and Rashid, an interfaith couple who dared to love, and fight the tag of 'love jihad' at every step.

Meet Pinky and Rashid, an interfaith couple who dared to love and fight against the tag of 'love jihad' at every step.

(Photo: Meghnad Bose/The Quint)

Click here to read and watch the interactive graphic novel 'Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya'.

On 5 December 2020, while on their way to the court in UP’s Moradabad to get their marriage registered, an interfaith couple’s life took a rude turn. The pair – Pinky (a Hindu Dalit) and Rashid (a Muslim) – were accosted by Hindu right-wing groups that accused Rashid of 'love jihad.'

This incident, which made international headlines, was merely a few days after the UP government passed the controversial anti-conversion law end of November. Pinky and Rashid got married in a nikah ceremony in Dehradun in July – months before the law was passed.

The couple, in their early 20s, was taken to a police station by the vigilantes, and was informed by the police that the woman’s mother had filed a complaint against Rashid.

Despite the couple’s repeated pleas, they were separated – Rashid and his brother were sent to the lock-up, and Pinky to a women’s shelter home. A year after UP passed the anti-conversion law, Pinky recalls the trauma, the sleepless nights, and an unbearable loss.

“I told the vigilantes, the police, and the officials at the Nari Niketan that I am an adult who married Rashid at my own will. I told them I was pregnant but they didn’t listen to me,” Pinky told The Quint.

A few days later, while still at the Nari Niketan, she complained of terrible ache, and was rushed to a hospital. Pinky suffered a miscarriage. Two days later, on December 15, she gave a statement to a magistrate that she married Rashid consensually, and that she was an adult.

On December 20, Rashid and his brother were finally released from prison as UP Police “found no evidence” against them. In January, the couple moved back to Dehradun where they had first met and are now trying to rebuild their life that was so rudely interrupted.

“My family has cut all ties with me but I can’t look at people through the lens of religion and caste. Are Muslims not human beings? Rashid and I love each other and are stronger than ever before,” she said.