Kerala love jihad case: Hadiya says 'I want freedom', Supreme Court asks her to resume studies

Shafin Jahan had challenged the Kerala High Court order of May nullifying his marriage with Hadiya.

NEW DELHI: Kerala woman Hadiya, the alleged love jihad victim, was freed from the custody of her parents and sent her to college to pursue her studies by the Supreme Court on Monday.

The Hindu woman from Kerala who converted to Islam, told the Supreme Court that she wants "freedom and release". The SC directed that she be allowed to complete her studies at a Salem homeopathy college in Tamil Nadu.

After a prolonged proceedings in the open courtroom, the top court did not accede to Hadiya's plea that she should be allowed to go with her husband. She also told the court she wanted "freedom" to live and profess Islamic faith.

The bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, which interacted with Hadiya for nearly half-an-hour in the courtroom against the wishes of her father who had sought an in-camera interaction, directed the Kerala police to provide her security and ensure that she travelled at the earliest to Salem in Tamil Nadu to pursue homeopathy studies at Sivaraj Medical College there.

She expressed her desire to complete her house surgeon internship and pursue her career as a homeopathic doctor.

"Freedom, release", Hadiya said in response to a question from Justice Chandrachud "What is your dream for the future?"

She was in the custody of her parents for last eight months.

Hadiya was in the custody of her parents for almost six months, after the Kerala High Court had on May 29 anulled her 'nikah' with Shafin Jahan. Hadiya, a Hindu by birth, had converted to Islam several months before her marriage.

The court fixed the plea of Jahan, challenging Kerala High Court's order annulling his marriage with Hadiya, for hearing in the third week of January next year.

The court appointed dean of Salem-based homoeopathic college as Hadiya's guardian and granted her the liberty to approach him in case of any problem.

The SC further directed the college and the university concerned to re-admit Hadiya and grant her hostel facility.

The top court also acceded to the request of Hadiya that she be first allowed to visit her friend's home as she has been mentally harrassed for past 11 months and allowed her to visit her friend before going to Salem to attend college.

Hadiya, when asked by the bench to name any nearest relative or acquaintance at Salem to be named as the local guardian, said she only needed her husband in that role.

She said her husband can take care of her expenses of studies and she does not need state's expenses to pursue her professional course.

The bench posed questions in English, while Hadiya replied in Malyalam, which was translated by senior advocate V Giri who appeared for Kerala government.

During the hearing, which continued for almost two-and- half hours till 5.30 PM, Hadiya's parents, her in-laws and her husband were present in the packed courtroom.

The bench asked questions about her ambitions, life, studies and hobbies, which she replied comfortably and said she wanted to do internship of house surgeonship, a course of 11 months and wanted to stand on her own in life.

On the other hand, National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is investigating the larger conspiracy behind what is being described as "Love Jihad" by a "well-oiled" Islamic organisation, told the court that it should first look at the "compelling material" that it has collected before interacting with Hadiya.

While in one breadth Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh told the bench that it (NIA) was not concerned with the Hadiya case and was looking into the larger conspiracy, at the same time he insisted the court should first look at the six pages of 100 page status report carrying "compelling material" on the existence of a well-oiled organisation engaged in indoctrinating vulnerable minds.

At the outset, senior advocate Shyam Diwan, appearing for Hadiya's father Asokan K M, said his daughter should be questioned in-camera as this was a case of indoctrination backed by huge organisational support.

He claimed there was a highly communally charged atmosphere which could have wider ramifications and insisted on his plea for in-camera proceedings.

Diwan also placed an alleged transcript of conversation between one alleged offshore ISIS handler and Hadiya's husband, saying it showed that Jahan had links with an organisation called Popular Front of India and a larger conspiracy of indoctrination was happening on the ground.

He said in social networking sites, there was a conversation between one Abdul Rashid and Jahan in which he has been found asking how much money he can get to make a person join the ranks of militant outfit ISIS.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Jahan, said this audio recording was nothing new and was being in circulation for past one year.
"What indoctrination? She has been with her parents for past 11 months. National Commission of Women, NIA all interrogated her but state commission for women was not allowed. She is entitled to speak her mind and has her own individual autonomy and the court should hear her," Sibal said.

Kerala HC had described the case as love 'jihad'

Earlier, a bench of former CJI Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud had ordered the premier probe agency to launch a probe into the conversion and marriage of the Kerala Hindu girl, who was known as Akhila but allegedly converted to Islam and changed her name to Hadiya, to a Muslim man, Shafin Jahan. The marriage had taken place in 2016.

Shafin on September 16 filed a plea requesting the top court to call off the NIA probe, alleging that the investigation agency "is not being fair".

Justice RV Ravindran, a retired judge of the apex court, is supervising the investigation.

The Kerala HC on May 25 had declared as "null and void" the marriage of 24-year-old Hadiya. It had described the case as an instance of 'love jihad' and ordered the state police to conduct probe into such cases.

Shafin Jahan, meanwhile, filed another plea in SC challenging the HC order saying it was an "an insult to the independence of woman in India".

Jahan has claimed Hadiya, a homeopathy student in Kerala, converted to Islam of her own volition two years prior to their marriage and sought direction to Hadiya's father to present her in court.

However, Hadiya's father maintained that his daughter was a "helpless victim" trapped by a "well-oiled racket" which used "psychological measures" to indoctrinate people and convert them to Islam.

Hadiya's father plea says Hahan is a criminal and his daughter was trapped by a network with connections to Popular Front of India and even the Islamic State.

It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State's mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge.

Hadiya was a homeopathy student in Kerala when she converted to Islam and changed her name. Jahan had met her with his family in August 2016 in response to her posting on a marriage website and they got married in December 2016.

But in August 2016 itself, her father had approached high court with a habeas corpus petition, alleging his daughter had been radicalised by some organisations and they had also influenced her to marry a Muslim man so that she is out of the parents' custody forever.

He had also apprehended that there could be a plan to send her to Syria to work with extremist organisations such as IS since the man she married had been working in the Gulf.