I have always taken pride in being a member of a secular democracy where people of different faiths live together. It is disturbing to witness any practice that threatens to harm the secular fabric of our society. To come across the use of the term ‘love jihad’ in news reports has been one such troubling trend.

In the past few years, there have been several media reports on interfaith marriages using the term ‘love jihad’. Many of these reports carry the term within quotes. But this has not prevented this term from becoming a part of common parlance or Twitter trends. The regular use of such language poses the threat of creating divisions in society.

On this subject, the Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy has been quoted in newspapers: “The term ‘Love Jihad’ is not defined under the extant laws. No such case of ‘Love Jihad’ has been reported by any of the central agencies.”

I have started this petition asking the Editors Guild of India to issue guidelines asking the media to refrain from using the term ‘love jihad’ when reporting on interfaith marriages. Sign this petition.

The Editors Guild of India is a conscience keeper of the Indian media, founded with the aim of “raising the standards of editorial leadership of newspapers and magazines”. The Guild already has a Code of Practice for Journalists that advises the media to “weed out . . . innuendoes which are not essential to the story, or retain them only after measuring their defamatory potential.” It would be an extension of this already existing Code if the Guild were to issue a statement/guideline advising media persons not to use the term ‘love jihad’ when speaking of interfaith marriages. Like the Code states, “The fact that the media is guided by a self-imposed Code strengthens its credentials for demanding protection of their right to receive and impart information.”

Sign my petition to stop the use of the term ‘love jihad’ by the media and to promote more ethical and sensitive reporting.