Love jihad case: Supreme Court to examine Kerala HC order, hear plea to stall NIA probe on 9 October

The Supreme Court is set to hear the petition of Kerala-based Shafin Jahan to stall National Investigation Agency probe into his marriage with Hindu woman who had converted to Islam on 9 October, media reports said on Tuesday. The apex court said on Tuesday that it will examine if Kerala High Court, which had declared the marriage as “null and void” on 24 May terming it as an instance of ’love jihad’, can actually do so by exercising its writ powers. Following the annulment, the man approached the Supreme Court, saying the high court order was an insult to the independence of women in the country. The top court then directed the NIA to probe  the incident on 16 August. Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Jahan, argued that in a multi-religious society the apex court should not have ordered NIA investigation in the case and urged for an urgent hearing on the plea seeking recall of the order. “Pattern or no pattern, the question is, can the high court annul the marriage by exercising its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution,” the bench which also comprises Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud said. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre sought an adjournment on the ground that another ASG Maninder Singh, who has been appearing in this case was out of station for personal purposes. [caption id=“attachment_4070589” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Supreme Court. AP[/caption] The petitioner now seeks the  recall  of the top court’s order, along with a direction to Kerala Police to produce the woman, Hadiya, before the court. Jahan, in an interim application filed in his appeal against the high court order, has referred to media reports and claimed that NIA has already started its probe “without the guidance of Justice Raveendran”, who was supposed to supervise the investigation. In the plea, Jahan has claimed that Raveendran “has refused to oversee the said probe by the NIA” and the agency should be stopped from proceeding with its investigation. After the 24 May high court order, Hadiya has been residing in her father’s house. However, Jahan has claimed that she had accepted Islam on her own free will and she has been detained against her will at her parent’s house. Jahan has also alleged in her petition that Hadiya, is facing tremendous physical and mental assault by her family and threats from members of Sangh Parivar outfits, reported Hindustan Times. The apex court had directed the NIA to submit its final investigation report in the court to enable it to arrive at any conclusion in the matter. It had on 16 August directed the NIA to probe the incident under the supervision of retired apex court judge, Justice RV Raveendran. NIA had told the bench that prima facie it appears that woman’s conversion to Islam and her subsequent marriage to a Muslim was not an isolated incident and other such instances have come to the agency’s notice. In December 2016, Jahan married Hadiya, then named Akhila. Her father Ashokan KM, who had taken up the his daughter’s conversion to high court, had alleged that there was a “well-oiled systematic mechanism” for conversion and Islamic radicalisation. With inputs from PTI