Maharashtra: Silent march in Nashik demanding check on love jihad

A large number of people carrying saffron flags participated in a silent march taken out in Maharashtra's Nashik city on demanding to stop what they called as love jihad and capital punishment for Shraddha Walkar murder case accused Aftab Poonawala.

Activists of different right-wing organisations and members of the general public including women, some of them wearing saffron clothes and caps, joined the Virat Hindu Muk Morcha (mega silent march), which began from a school in Shalimar suburb and passed through a number of city areas.

According to a report of PTI, the march participants put forth various demands, including a law against religious conversion and love jihad, capital punishment for Poonawala, strict implementation of the cow slaughter ban and stringent action against those insulting Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

We demand capital punishment for Poonawala, accused in the case of murder of Shraddha Walkar, said Ram Singh Bawri, national president of the Hindu Ekta Andolan Party which participated in the march.

Love jihad is a term used by right-wing groups and activists to allege a concerted effort by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam through marriage.

Aftab Poonawala allegedly strangled Walkar in May this year and sawed her body into 35 pieces, which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi's Mehrauli before dumping those across the city over several days past midnight.