SC over Kerala’s Hadiya case: Marriage cannot be ‘nullified’

Kochi, October 3: Kerala’s love Jihad’s Hadiya case was once again making rounds after the twist as Supreme Court said that the marriage of a Hindu woman, who had converted to Islam, cannot be nullified. Further, it stated that the father can't have control over a 24-year-old adult. The SC said that further hearing will take place on October 9.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also said it may appoint an alternate custodian for Hadiya in place of her father.

Significantly, after a social activist shot a video in which Hadia made it clear that she had been held hostage at her home against her wishes and she had married Shafin Jahan out of her own free will, the bench agreed to hear a plea filed by advocate P V Dinesh on behalf of the Kerala Women’s Commission for visiting the girl, interview her and file a report in a sealed cover before the court. “The girl is 24 year old..it is absolutely clear..she cannot be by force under custody of her father we may appoint a custodian’ said CJI Dipak Misra.

Exactly a month after the Supreme Court handed over the investigation into the alleged conversion and subsequent marriage of the Hindu girl to a Muslim man in Kerala, an application was filed on September 19 requesting the apex court to stop the the NIA probe in the light of fresh evidence that have emerged post its August 16 order that the girl converted of her own free will and she is being confined and “tortured” by her parents.

Earlier Supreme Court ordered a probe by National Investigation Agency (NIA) into this case where the marriage of Hindu woman Akhila Asokan to a Muslim man Shafin Jahan after her conversion was cancelled by the Kerala High Court as it constituted to ‘Love Jihad’. Earlier, the top court had ordered an NIA probe into the case, even as Shafin Jahan, Hadiya's husband had on September 16 filed a plea requesting it to cancel the NIA probe.

The Kerala HC, declared the marriage as “null and void”, had described the case as an instance of ‘love jihad’ and ordered the state police to conduct the probe into such cases. The SC earlier said it will take a view after considering NIA’s report, inputs from Kerala Police and after talking to the woman. The direction came after NIA told the apex court that love jihad is for real. “There is a pattern to convert Hindu girls and get them married to Muslim men,” NIA told SC. On June 10, the SC had allowed NIA to access all records of the investigation into the case.