The police in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly on Sunday booked two persons a day after members of the Bajrang Dal disrupted a birthday celebration and accused two Muslim boys of “love jihad”.

The celebration was organised by a nursing student for her classmates, which included six girls and four boys, The Times of India reported. Members of the Bajrang Dal reportedly barged in during the gathering, accusing the Muslim guests of “love jihad” and reportedly assaulted one of the male guests and a girl who tried to intervene.

Love jihad is a Hindutva conspiracy theory that Muslim men trick Hindu women into romantic relationships with the aim of converting them to Islam. The Union home ministry has told Parliament that Indian law has no provision defining such a term.

The police on Sunday filed a case against two named and other unidentified accused persons under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to voluntarily causing hurt, house-trespass after preparation for hurt, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, criminal intimidation and mischief.

Earlier on Sunday, the police said they found that no objectionable or illegal activity was taking place at the cafe. It added that “preventive action” was taken against the persons involved under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.

Videos of the incident showed a group of men barging into...

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