Right-wing groups in Karnataka recently raised a ruckus after a Hindu woman left her home on her own will to be with a Muslim man, Muhammad Ashfaq. The 20-year-old woman, a BCA student in Mangaluru, was living with her relative in Ullal. She reportedly left home on June 30 to be with Ashfaq, who hails from Kasaragod in Kerala.

Her father approached Vidyanagar police and alleged that his daughter was kidnapped by Ashfaq and that she was being converted to Islam. He also wrote to Mangaluru Police Commissioner asking to “rescue and protect his daughter.” The father also sought help from the right-wing group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Police tracked the woman and Ashfaq to Kerala and brought her back to Mangaluru, placing her in a counseling center in Mudipu. Mangaluru Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal told TNM that the woman informed the police she left home willingly and was not abducted. “A missing complaint was filed by the woman’s father. No case under anti-conversion law was registered,” he said. 

Many news reports alleged that Ashfaq had at least 10 cases against him. 

VHP leader Sharan Pumpwell and other Hindutva leaders have labeled it a case of 'love jihad', a bogey propagated by right-wing organizations alleging that Muslim men lure Hindu and Christian women into marriage and force them to convert to Islam.

In 2023, the Karnataka Cabinet decided to repeal the anti-conversion law passed by the previous BJP government. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs HK Patil announced this decision following a cabinet meeting on June 15, 2023 led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

The Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2022, which received the Governor's assent in September 2022, faced criticism from opposition parties, lawyers, and activists for being more stringent than similar laws in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat. 

The decision to repeal the law was made a year ago, with plans to either introduce a repeal bill or promulgate an ordinance, which would need to be replaced by a bill within six months.