A viral pamphlet urging Muslims to ‘indulge in Love Jihad’ and showing alleged ‘cash rewards’ to marry non-Muslim women is being shared on social media with the claim that the pamphlet has been issued by Kerala-based Popular Front of India (PFI).
However, we found red flags such as the logo of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah used in the flyer and the contact numbers starting with ‘+92’ which is Pakistan’s country code. Further, Anis Ahmed, PFI’s general secretary, denied that the organisation had issued such a flyer.
CLAIM
The pamphlet mentions a ‘cash reward list’ in which if a Muslim marries a Hindu (Brahmin) girl, he will be given Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh for Jain girls, Rs 1.5 lakh for Buddhist girls, among others.
The claim along with the image reads: “Shocking document. Love jihad is real. Save our Hindu daughters. Sponsored by PFI. (sic)”
The pamphlet shared by Facebook account ‘Proud Hindu’ had garnered 881 shares at the time of publishing the article.
Several other users on Facebook shared the image with the same claim.
The Quint received a query on the claim being made in the image on its WhatsApp tipline as well.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On carefully looking at the flyer, we noticed several logical errors that led us to question the credibility of the claim linking it to PFI.
For instance, one can see that the graphic inside the heart-shaped structure is same as the logo of Hezbollah which is a Lebanese militant group.
Also, while it mentions the postal address of PFI in Bengaluru, Chennai and Kozhikode, it mentions contact numbers with ‘+92’ as the code, which is the country code of Pakistan.
Social media users have been reviving the viral pamphlet across years and we could find several posts in the years 2014, 2016, 2017.
Speaking to The Quint, Anis Ahmed, PFI’s general secretary, denied that the organisation had issued such a flyer and said:
“The flyer is as old as 2005. The organisation has registered several complaints in several states. Over the years, it keeps resurfacing as and when the issue of ‘Love Jihad’ gains traction.”
We also came across an article by Hindustan Times that was published in 2014 and mentioned that the Bengaluru Police had questioned two men regarding a pamphlet that mentioned similar details as that of the viral one.
The then Additional Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar had reportedly said,“A case has not been registered as we have not yet received a formal complaint. We don’t want to take it up suo motu.”
The News Minute had also reported in 2014 that the Bengaluru police was “informally investigating” the leaflets.
Evidently, an old pamphlet showing an alleged rate list of non-Muslim women was revived to falsely claim that it has been issued by PFI.
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